1) I wouldn’t say that we are experiencing an Axial Age level of change in society today. The Axial Age was measured by an extreme and pivotal shift in ideas by key thinkers and while I think there are a lot of intelligent people today with important ideas able to be expressed on a wide scale due to the rise of the internet, wouldn’t say that these ideas are so radical as to be compared to Axial Age ideas. We see this in the current consideration of Axial Age ideas as radical thinkers- even for current times. For example, minimalism was a very common theme across these thinkers; however, our society is very maximalist focused, especially with the progression of Capitalism. Although the internet allows for the easy spread of new ideas, that doesn’t necessarily mean that those ideas qualify or express on the level of radical Axial thinkers.
2) Thucydides’ writing, Party Ties are Closer than Blood Ties, talks about polarization in the Ancient Greek world- but clearly this issue- although more widely recognized currently, is still one that we are facing without the ability to fix it. The issue Thucydides brings up includes people’s inability to truly examine the side they are on and question it which is a problem we are still seeing currently with party ties in our current political system. Although we are able to reflect upon this as an issue in our society, we have failed to address it- even now so long after it had been acknowledged by far past thinkers as an issue.
