Inventing the axial age: the origins and uses of a historical concept

The concept of the axial age, initially proposed by the philosopher Karl Jaspers to refer to a period in the first millennium BCE that saw the rise of major religious and philosophical figures and ideas throughout Eurasia, has gained an established position in a number of fields, including historica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Theory and society 2013-05, Vol.42 (3), p.241-259
Main Authors:	Boy, John D., Torpey, John
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Buddhism Civilization Eurasia Historical analysis Historical Sociology History History of ideas Humans Intellectuals Jaspers, Karl Judaism Philosophers Philosophical thought Philosophy of the Social Sciences Religion Religions Social evolution Social research Social Sciences Sociology Sociology of culture Sociology of knowledge and ethics Sociology of knowledge and sociology of culture Sociology of Religion Universal history Values World history
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Summary:	The concept of the axial age, initially proposed by the philosopher Karl Jaspers to refer to a period in the first millennium BCE that saw the rise of major religious and philosophical figures and ideas throughout Eurasia, has gained an established position in a number of fields, including historical sociology, cultural sociology, and the sociology of religion. We explore whether the notion of an "axial age" has historical and intellectual cogency, or whether the authors who use the label of a more free-floating "axiality" to connote varied "breakthroughs" in human experience may have a more compelling case. Throughout, we draw attention to ways in which uses of the axial age concept in contemporary social science vary in these and other respects. In the conclusion, we reflect on the value of the concept and its current uses and their utility in making sense of human experience.
ISSN:	0304-2421 1573-7853