18. Gaia and a Second Axial Age

Abstract

In Chapter 18, Sean Kelly proposes that the current cultural and ecological transformations taking place on Earth are evidence of a Second Axial Age. The period between the eighth and third centuries BCE is known as the 'Axial Age', which saw the beginnings of philosophy, science, mathematics, and many of the world's religious traditions. Whereas Axial Age values were oriented around transcendent or cosmological principles (e.g., Truth, God, Oneness), values of the Second Axial Age compel humans to reorient civilization around the living Earth community - Gaia.