The Three Axial Ages: Moral, Material, Mental

• In Event: 455 - Section on Sociology of Religion Paper Session. Changing the Conversation on Science and Religion: Culture, Movements, and New Frontiers

Abstract

Much discussion has been devoted in recent years to the “Axial Age” described by Karl Jaspers and others, referring to the middle centuries of the first millennium BCE when Confucius, the Buddha, the Jewish prophets, and the Greek philosophers left their profound mark on human self-understanding. This paper argues that there have in fact been three Axial Ages that really matter in human historyThe first, “moral” Axial Age developed the idea of transcendence and promoted the ethical thinking associated with the rise of several of the “world religions” analyzed by Max Weber -- Judaism, Buddhism, Confucianism -- and with classical Greek philosophy. The second, “material” Axial Age began around 1750 when the application of human reason, the exploitation of human subjects and slaves, and European access to certain kinds of fuels combined to usher in astonishing and unprecedented advances in population growth, economic development, human health, and life expectancy. The “material” Axial Age brought about “more, more, more,” but, it would eventually become apparent, it did so at the price of the cannibalization of the natural substrate upon which human life depends. The current “mental” Axial Age is recasting human societies and making them more dependent on computer algorithms, reducing repetitive activities, and emancipating people from drudgery. Yet these new mental tools must be harnessed to the project of greater energy efficiency if humankind is to rescue itself from the environmental disaster caused by the methods of production associated with the second Axial Age.

Author

• John C. Torpey, Graduate Center, City University of New York