ABOUT THE CLASS
Course Description:
The Axial Age is the name given to the period when prophets rose up independently around the world, laying the foundations of philosophy and contemporary world religions.
These prophets collectively established a paradigm shift in human civilization. Our present day is at the cusp of a second axial age.
Using results from contemporary research that show that natural selection favors cooperation, this class considers the conditions that led to the first Axial Age, and use these patterns to order developments in the modern, post-Renaissance period.
We then propose a dynamic model to describe the 2nd Axial Age, and discuss those identified as its prophets.
Examples begin with Adam Smith and Alexis de Toqueville, include Albert Einstein and his colleagues, and end with a cluster of contemporary researchers in the neurosciences, evolutionary anthropology, and positive psychology, including Viktor Frankl, Barbara Fredrickson, Jane Goodall, Martin Nowak, and Jonathan Haidt.
Seeing the patterns, we understand how to join them.
The Axial Age is the name given to the period when prophets rose up independently around the world, laying the foundations of philosophy and contemporary world religions.
These prophets collectively established a paradigm shift in human civilization. Our present day is at the cusp of a second axial age.
Using results from contemporary research that show that natural selection favors cooperation, this class considers the conditions that led to the first Axial Age, and use these patterns to order developments in the modern, post-Renaissance period.
We then propose a dynamic model to describe the 2nd Axial Age, and discuss those identified as its prophets.
Examples begin with Adam Smith and Alexis de Toqueville, include Albert Einstein and his colleagues, and end with a cluster of contemporary researchers in the neurosciences, evolutionary anthropology, and positive psychology, including Viktor Frankl, Barbara Fredrickson, Jane Goodall, Martin Nowak, and Jonathan Haidt.
Seeing the patterns, we understand how to join them.
Format:
- Readings and online videos
- Questions posed between classes
- Class discussion
When: Mondays, 3:15 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Where: Bishop's House
Where: Bishop's House