Axial Age

E402746

historical period historiographical concept philosophical concept

The Axial Age is a term for the pivotal period roughly between the 8th and 3rd centuries BCE when major philosophical and religious traditions independently emerged across different civilizations, fundamentally shaping later human thought.

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All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
Axial Age canonical	3
Axial Age (approximately 800–200 BCE)	1

Statements (54)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	historical period ⓘ historiographical concept ⓘ philosophical concept ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	Achsenzeit ⓘ
associatedWithRegion	Ancient China ⓘ Greek Antiquity ⓘ surface form: Ancient Greece ancient India ⓘ surface form: Ancient India Ancient Israel ⓘ Eastern Iranian cultures ⓘ surface form: Iranian cultural sphere
associatedWithThinker	Aristotle ⓘ Confucius ⓘ Jeremiah ⓘ Laozi ⓘ Mahavira ⓘ Plato ⓘ Second Isaiah ⓘ Shakyamuni Buddha ⓘ surface form: Siddhartha Gautama Socrates ⓘ Zoroaster ⓘ surface form: Zarathustra
associatedWithTradition	Buddhism ⓘ Confucianism ⓘ Taoism ⓘ surface form: Daoism Greek philosophy ⓘ Hebrew prophecy ⓘ Hindu Upanishadic thought ⓘ Jainism ⓘ Zoroastrianism ⓘ early Judaism ⓘ
characterizedBy	critique of traditional mythic worldviews ⓘ development of abstract philosophical reasoning ⓘ emergence of major philosophical traditions ⓘ emergence of major world religions ⓘ independent developments in multiple civilizations ⓘ new forms of ethical reflection ⓘ rise of universalizing moral ideas ⓘ
coinedBy	Karl Jaspers ⓘ
describedInWork	The Origin and Goal of History ⓘ
hasCentralTheme	ethical responsibility ⓘ justice and social order ⓘ nature of ultimate reality ⓘ question of the good life ⓘ relationship between humans and the divine ⓘ
influenced	global ethical thought ⓘ later philosophical systems ⓘ later world religions ⓘ
subjectOfDebate	chronological boundaries ⓘ degree of cross-cultural connection ⓘ validity as a unified historical period ⓘ
timeSpanApproximateEnd	3rd century BCE ⓘ
timeSpanApproximateStart	8th century BCE ⓘ
usedInDiscipline	comparative philosophy ⓘ philosophy of history ⓘ religious studies ⓘ sociology of religion ⓘ

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Karl Jaspers → notableConcept → Axial Age ⓘ

The Origin and Goal of History → mainSubject → Axial Age ⓘ

The Origin and Goal of History → introducesConcept → Axial Age ⓘ

The Origin and Goal of History → timePeriodDiscussed → Axial Age ⓘ

this entity surface form: Axial Age (approximately 800–200 BCE)