Universalism

Considering the well-being of all people when making moral and political decisions – for many people today, this is at least seen as an ideal. But such a humanist ethics was not always a given, and is still not universally valued. So when and where did it emerge – and why? Is it a peculiarity of the Judeo-Christian or Western Enlightenment tradition? And how is its emergence linked to the history of imperialist world domination? In this fascinating book, Hans Joas looks into this humanist ethics from a global perspective.

Starting in the so-called »Axial Age«, he traces the emergence of these values in Greek antiquity, in Judaism and Christianity, and in India and China, and examines them within the context of imperialist pursuits, following their developments all the way through to the histories of colonialism, fascism, and communism. In light of this, Joas asks if it is possible to have universalism without imperialism? And what is Islam’s relationship to the nascent humanist ethics of the Axial Age? Joas's answers to these fundamental questions form a magnum opus that crowns his highly acclaimed work on the history of religion and political power.