Learning History and Learning from History: The Case of the Axial Age

The paper deals with the concept of the Axial Age and its extremely ambiguous nature. A general overview of its history, from Karl Jaspers to present times, shows that it has been extensively discussed and employed by not only philosophers but also (and mostly) historians and sociologists. This is due to the structure of the notion itself, which in Jaspers’ version relies on both an empirical thesis and an article of faith, allowing for both descriptive and normative accounts. We therefore argue that the notion of transdisciplinarity contributes to a better understanding of the Axial Age, by highlighting its reassessment of theoretical boundaries. The final part of the article explores the philosophical implications of this result. Drawing on Martin Heidegger’s distinction between historisch (historiographical) and geschichtlich (historical), we contend that the notion of the Axial Age offers the opportunity to coordinate the ontic (historisch) together with the ontological (geschichtlich) layer of history.