What is Big Philosophy?
Big Philosophy is a bold, new interdisciplinary field that seeks to address humanity's biggest questions. Question like, Why are we here? What is life? How did the Universe begin? Will it end? Are we alone in the universe? What is the nature of reality? Of Consciousness? And, how should we live? - these are questions that have challenged human curiosity across time and cultures.
Many of the questions Big Philosophy explores are not new, indeed many are quite old. But Big Philosophy itself is new.
In fact, Big Philosophy is so new, it’s not taught in any university or school yet, at least not under that name. But many of the questions that form a core of the Big Philosophy approach are asked, and the various answers to them explored, just in a piece-meal fashion, in course ranging from history to philosophy, to physics. Some introductory philosophy courses, including at my university, come close to the approach that I think Big Philosophy should take, but often from a very limited perspective (say, 20th and 21rst century Western philosophy). And they certainly stop short of actually advocating, or creating a rigorous, disciplinary program of study- a discipline . This website, is my way of outlining this new field, and is intended both to introduce you, the reader, to my vision of Big Philosophy, and to be a kind of first draft for the very first text-book for this new discipline.
Big Philosophy is inspired by Big History, originally founded by David Christian in his book Maps of Time, and which explores the vast sweep of time from the Big Bang to the present. Like Big History, Big Philosophy is intended to take a big picture, interdisciplinary approach- hence the title- to the profound mysteries of existence, life, and the cosmos. And, like Big History, Big Philosophy invites us to explore the deep connections between our past, present, and future in a quest to understand our place in the universe.
As mentioned above, Big Philosophy is about asking the Big Questions—questions like: What is the nature of the world and of the universe? Has it always existed, was it created, or did it just come into being ex nihilo? Will it one day come to an end? What is consciousness? Why are we here and how should we live? What is life? Are we alone in the universe? What is the nature of reality? Is there an afterlife? Could we someday create one by uploading our memories to a machine? Does God—or do gods—exist?
Some of these questions have challenged thinkers, philosophers, scientists, theologians, and mystics, for hundreds, even thousands of years. Some are new, if not in whole, then in part.
What sets Big Philosophy apart from science, theology, or various styles of what we might call ‘small p’ philosophy, is its interdisciplinary focus, albeit through a philosophical lense, on these very big questions that probe the essence of human existence, knowledge, and experience. While inevitably trying to answer these questions, and explore the way others have tried, will involve getting into the nitty-gritty of a number of different disciplines, Big Philosophy aims to always keep the big picture, and the big questions, front and central.
And, while science provides answers to some of these questions, will likely answer others, science is constantly evolving. Ideally, it’s answers get better over time, but it’s an undeniable fact that answers to the big questions have changed, even quite recently, as with the debate over the Big Bang and the Steady State universe theory that took place as recently as the mid-20th century. It would be arrogant indeed to think that the answers science gives us now will remain unchanged hundreds of years into the future. Much about the universe, possibly even most about the universe itself, remains a mystery.
But Big Philosophy takes this into account, and it explores how people in the past have asked these questions, the range of answers they've found, and how we can ask them anew today. Big Philosophy isn't just about the answers; it's about teaching people to think deeply and rigorously, to weigh arguments and evidence, and to arrive at their own conclusions with the best tools of thought at their disposal.
This field invites you to explore these ultimate questions from multiple perspectives and disciplines, offering both a framework for understanding and the skills to critically engage with the mysteries that have challenged human curiosity across time.
About me
Who am I? My name is Morgan. By day I’m an academic at a major international university, where I’ve found myself doing teaching and research that I love, but that doesn’t quite satisfy the core reasons I first started studying, and then got into academia in the first place. I started studying, and continued to study, because I was fundamentally interested in what I call the Big Questions. Big Philosophy, as I will outline in the posts that will make up this site, is my way of sharing that quest with you and outlining a way that others who are interested can learn (and teach!) about these questions in an exploratory, yet rigorous and dedicated manner.
The main purpose of this website isn't to sell you things, it's to share Big Philosophy with you. But in doing so, I will make recommendations about books and things, and yes, I do include links to books on Amazon. This will generate income that I will use to help keep my Big Philosophy quest alive. So, ethically and legally, here it is: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.