Vol. I The Axial Age

This volume is the first of a series that will include five more on the global history and philosophy. This volume and the subsequent volumes will not be divided into western and non-western philosophies. Instead, each philosophy is viewed in relation to global contemoraries. Scholasticism is not to be interpreted as juggling arguments by straw men. It should be understood in the context of a challenge in order to achieve systematic and consistent synthesis in Eurasia. All “older traditions” must be interpreted in light of “modern circumstances”, which is, after all, what the Eurasian scholars of the past centuries were doing. From the ninth century’s “Monism in Many Moods”, through the “Exfoliation and Elaboration,” of seminal systems in tenth and eleventh centuries, to the “Great Summas,” in the twelfth and 13th centuries. This was the time when philosophy and theology developed sophisticated techniques for balancing arguments, refutations, counter-arguments, and counter-refutations. These architectonic structurings came in the form commentaries on handbooks that were passed down as authoritative scripture. Every culture in Eurasia had both systematic philosophy and intuitive wisdom at a high level of sophistication. It is possible to say that it has never fully recovered. Rarely has there been such depth in the treatment of any topic since then, with arguments and counter-arguments being architechtonically juxtaposed to create such a harmonious harmony. These volumes, as the entire series, are a new way to explore the collective wisdom of mankind. They also help to dispel many ethnocentric stereotypes that still prevent intercultural communication and promote intercultural understanding.