Karl Jaspers
Jaspers 1953 Origin
The Origin and Goal of History,
London: Routledge & Keegan Paul
(Bullock, Michael trans.; 1st English ed.)
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Excerpts from Jaspers 1953 Origin
| Axial Age | p. 1 |
Philosophy of historyNote 1 “In the Western World the philosophy of history was founded in the Christian faith. In a grandiose sequence of works ranging from St. Augustine to Hegel this faith visualised the movement of God through history. God’s acts of revelation represent the decisive dividing lines. Thus Hegel could still say: All history goes toward and comes from Christ. The appearance of the Son of God is the axis of world history. Our chronology bears daily witness to this Christian structure of history. Christianity and universal history But the Christian faith is only one faith, not the faith of mankind. This view of universal history therefore suffers from the defect that it can only be valid for believing Christians. But even in the West, Christians have not tied their empirical conceptions of history to their faith. An article of faith is not an article of empirical insight into the real course of history. For Christians sacred history was separated from profane history, as being different in its meaning. Even the believing Christian was able to examine the Christian tradition itself in the same way as other empirical objects of research. World history's axis An axis of world history, if such a thing exists, would have to be discovered empirically, as a fact capable of being accepted as such by all men, Christians included. This axis would be situated at the point in history which gave birth to everything which, since then, man has been able to be, the point most overwhelmingly fruitful in fashioning humanity; its character would have to be, if not empirically cogent and evident, yet so convincing to empirical, insight as to give rise to a common frame of historical self-comprehension for all peoples – for the West, for Asia, and for all meii on earth, without regard to particular articles of faith. It would seem that this axis of history is to be found in the period around 500 B.C. [the so-called "Axial Age/Period", see below; cf. note to Origins, section 1.2], in the spiritual process that occurred between 800 and 200 B.C. It is there that we meet with the most deepcut dividing line in history. Man, as we know him today, came into being. For short we may style this the 'Axial Period'”. |
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Notes
- Note 1: The headings in bolded italics have been added by the author of the present page. Back to text