“Angelus Novus” by Paul Klee (1920)
The Angel of History continues his backward flight into the future, none the worse for wear as the storms of time blow on. Harried by these same storms yet undaunted, the band (@achronon , @johnnydavis54 , @Michael_Stumpf , @Geoffreyjen_Edwards , and @patanswer ) plans to jam once again on the riff of The Axial Age and its Consequences, a collection of essays edited by Robert N. Bellah and Hans Joas dealing “with various aspects of the legacy of the ‘Axial Age,’ a concept-label attached to the historical period between 800 and 200 BC by the… philosopher Karl Jaspers.”
Cafe Zoom line: Launch Meeting - Zoom
Monday, March 16, 2020, 1 PM EST
The present itinerary
As always, the plans of mice and men are but proposals to the council…
After last summer’s fruitful and fun musings on structures of culture, history, and persistent obstacles to integrative approaches, the question now turns to the meanings, implications, and consequences of the Axial Age (Chapters 8-15):
“A Comparative Perspective” Religion, modernity, the births of ideas, and cultures outside the Eurasian “mainstream”
“Destructive Possibilities?” Contradiction, conflict, and the potential for war in the name of peace
“Reevaluations” The Axial age: a specific time in history, a timeless truth of history, neither, or both?
Or something like that…
Again, the goal is not a bunch of book reports but an exploration perhaps of the very idea of change in turbulent times. The following article helps for orientation if the “Axial Age” is a new concept for you, but any interest in the themes listed earns you a turn at the mic if you wish.
Some book suggestions
A glimpse of the roads being traveled by various members of the group (not! required reading)
- Bellah, Robert N. (2011) Religion in Human Evolution , Cambridge/MA & London, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press .
- Bellah, Robert N. & Hans Joas (eds.) (2012) The Axial Age and its Consequences , Cambridge/MA & London, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press .
- Betti, Mario (2019) Twelve Ways of Seeing the World , Stroud, UK, Hawthorn Press.
- Gebser, Jean (1986) The Ever-Present Origin , Authorized translation by Noel Barstad with Algis Mikunas, Athens, Ohio University Press.
- Kripal, Jeffrey J. (2019) The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge , New York, Bellevue Literary Press.
- Lent, Jeremy (2017) The Patterning Instinct , Amherst, New York, Prometheus Books.
- Ong, Walter J., (2012) Orality and Literacy , 3rd edn, London and New York, Routledge.
- Renn, Jürgen (2020) The Evolution of Knowledge , Princeton, Princeton University Press.
- Wendt, Alexander (2015) Quantum Mind and Social Science , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.