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The Axial Age Debate as Political Discourse: Karl Jaspers and Eric Voegelin

2014; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês

1556-5068

Brickey LeQuire,

Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

In the 1949 study On the Origin and Goal of History, German-Swiss philosopher Karl Jaspers characterized the years 800-200 BCE as an “axial age” or “axial period” (Achsenzeit) in human history. Parallel spiritual breakthroughs occurred simultaneously, yet independently, in Persia, China, India, Israel, and Greece, leading to the formation of world religions, Jaspers argued, as well as unprecedented philosophical clarity about the human condition. This axial age thesis sparked wide-ranging and ongoing debates in a variety of disciplines, including history and the philosophy of religion, but its greatest impact has been within historical and comparative sociology, where proponents of Jaspers' claim include S. N. Eisenstadt and Robert N. Bellah. Surprisingly, although Jurgen Habermas and Charles Taylor both make use of the axial age concept, it has attracted virtually no interest among political theorists, with the recent exception of Antony Black. In this paper, in dialogue with Black, Taylor, Bellah, and Hans Joas, I examine the origins of the axial age debate, focusing on the early and often neglected contribution of German-American sociologist and political scientist Eric Voegelin. Through a comparison of Jaspers and Voegelin, I argue that the axial age debate is, from its very beginning, a form of public discourse intended to illuminate and ameliorate contemporary political problems by reawakening a sense of wonder at the religious and philosophical insights of the first millennium BCE.