Universal history is a term for a work aiming at the presentation of the history of humankind as a whole, as a coherent unit. It is basic to the Western tradition of historiography, corresponding in scope to what in contemporary terminology would be called "world history". As world history, universal history is the representation of general facts both of entire nations and of individuals. Its uses are manifold. It teaches human nature and the experience of all centuries. Universal history differs from world history in the teleological approach—history has a goal (telos).