In 1948, the German philosopher Karl Jaspers coined the term "Axial Age" to denote an astonishing era, from roughly 900 B.C. to 200 B.C., in which the foundations of the world's great religions ...

The psychological qualities of the peoples who lived before the Axial Age, before about 550 BCE, may have been quite different from out own. Last week, I characterized such ancient individuals as ...

The Axial Age (800 BCE to 200 BCE) brought with it an apparent change in human nature. Individual consciousness appears to have become richer. A new reflective self-awareness seems to have emerged ...