1. The Axial Age 800 BCE-200 CE

2. Reading Answer/address: Describe the Axial Age (5-6 sentences)
What was going on during the previous eras? What changed? How? Why?
Identify and explain three major consequences of the AA.

3. The Origin of the Axial Age
According to the Axial Age Theory, the philosophy behind the world’s major religions sprang from a six-hundred year span of time in the first millennium BCE

4. Abraham to Jesus: 18 Centuries Between
First Millennium BCE
ABRAHAM
MOSES
DAVID
8th
JESUS
Egypt
Exile
19th
18th
17th
16th
15th
14th
13th
12th
11th
10th
9 th
8 th
7 th
6 th
5 th
4 th
3 rd
2 nd
1 st
1 st
Axial Age
ZOROASTRIANISM CONFUCIANISM HELLENISM MYSTERIES BUDDHISM HINDUISM JUDAISM TAOISM
Right – the old river valley civilizations had such a bleak outlook on like – it was violent and sad and they were at the mercy of the gods. Then people started trying to figure out why the world was the way it was and why people operated the way they did
Red Consciousness: Egocentric, Bold, Violent
1ST ISAIAH AMOS HOSEA MICAH
Blue Consciousness: Authoritative, Ordered
BCE CE
RED TO BLUE

5. Definition of the Axial Age:
Major shift in human thinking
Spread out geographically from East Mediterranean to China
New ideas and developments in religions and philosophies-still important today
What are the problems of human nature?
How do we solve them, both politically and socially?

6. Causes of the Axial Age
Inseparable networks-politically and economically
World is expanding!
And… so is conflict
Increase in contact, trade, warfare
Increase in population and urbanization
Challenges to the traditional order
Social upheaval and political turmoil  how do we solve this?

7. Development of New Religions and Belief Systems
In the years centering around 600 BCE, great advances occurred independently and almost simultaneously in:
East Asia: Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, Shintoism
India: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism
Greece: Hellenism/Greek Rationalism
Middle East: Judaism (already in existence), Zoroastrianism, and, later: Christianity and Islam

8. Key ideas of the axial age:
Shift toward monotheism
Internalization of right and wrong
development of a moral conscience
as opposed to punishment-reward systems
Political, ethical, natural rationalism
Why is the world the way it is?
Why are humans the way they are?
How can we explain all of that?

9. Natural Rationalism Mathematics and science
In Greece Natural Philosophy
Theoretical understanding of nature from which individual phenomenon could be explained
Attempt to find causes for all natural events

10. Political and Ethical Rationalism
Development of schools of thought that approach human society as a logical problem to solve
Debate regarding basic view of human nature
Pessimists v. optimists

11. Greek rationalism: Hellenistic Philosophers
Greeks tried to explain human behavior and the meaning of life and the world in four unique ways:
Cynicism
Epicureanism
Stoicism
Skepticism

12. Greek rationalism: Hellenistic Philosophers
One question that each group of philosophy school tried to answer was:
How do humans achieve happiness?