Big History－General Education for the Anthropocene

Abstract

What is general education? This question usually presumes that general education exists as a substance. Following this presumption, “artes liberalis” and “Bildung” are considered as the archetypes of general education. These two have different meanings, but they both set human beings as the subject and they both teach humanities and living arts. The Anthropocene, which threatens the survival of mankind, let alone the sustainability of human civilization, demands a new concept of general education that breaks away from anthropocentrism. The conventional Humanities-centered general education must break out of the egg of humanism. Big History, which provides scientific knowledge on almost everything from the Big Bang to the Anthropocene, can present a post-human general education concept and a general education model. Therefore, this thesis aims to find a way for a general education Renaissance in the Anthropocene through Big History.