The Axial Age and Multiple Modernities
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20050133 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hans Schelkshorn (0000-0001-8574-2983, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Pages | 117-132 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-26 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Civilization, Modernity, and Critique (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.4324/9781003275046-12 |
| OpenAlex | W4367049151 |
| ISBN | 9781003275046 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
Inspired by Jaspers’ theory of the axial period, Johann P. Árnason and Shmuel Eisenstadt developed the theory of multiple modernities, in which the universalistic claims of modernity are problematized. Jürgen Habermas, however, refers to the theory of the axial age as a holistic historical background of post-metaphysical modernity, whose universality he has recently defended through a re-interpretation of modern European philosophy. The macrosociological debate on the universality of modernity is, therefore, inevitably linked to original philosophical reflections. Against this background, I provide a philosophical analysis of the different relations between the axial period and modernity, as sketched by Árnason, Eisenstadt, Habermas, and not at least by Jaspers himself. This project can be linked to Árnason's civilization theory of modernity, which, in contrast to Habermas, assumes cultural patterns in all modern subsystems. In this sense, Árnason’s civilization theory offers important bridges for a philosophical theory of modernity
Global Economic and Social Development · Mathematics · World Systems and Global Transformations · Geology
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |