The idea of the Axial Age was introduced by Karl Jaspers in his 1949 book on The Origin and Goal of History. Its main contention is that comparable yet independent ideas of transcendence emerged between 800 and 200 BCE in China and India (Buddhism and Hinduism), Persia (Zoroastrism), Greece (classical philosophy), and ancient Israel (Judaism). As it has gained greater traction over the past 75 years, this article reconstructs systematically the idea of the Axial Age in four steps: Jaspers's original formulation with its cosmopolitan intent, Shmuel Eisenstadt's comparative approach to ancient civilisations, Robert Bellah's application of it as part of a general theory of religious evolution, and J & uuml;rgen Habermas's study of the relationships between science, religion, and philosophy as a genealogy of postmetaphysical thinking. It then revisits two of the major criticisms that have been raised against the Axial Age in the works of Eric Voegelin and Jan Assmann. The article demonstrates that both supporters and critics identify that a similar rational core of the idea of the Axial Age lies in the rise of more differentiated relationships between moral and religious justifications, on the one hand, and political legitimacy, on the other.
Carl von Clausewitz's treatise On War is one of the most read but also misinterpreted works of Western military theory. Focusing on the cognitive practice associated with the knowledge and the management of warfare named coup d’oeil will allow us to shed new light on Clausewitz's epistemological approach. The specificities of his perspective will be outlined by an extensive intellectual contextualization retracing the evolutions of military theory from 1760 to 1830 which have been largely ignored in previous discussions of the Prussian's general thought. Clausewitz's notion of coup d’oeil emerges as the result of an evolution of military cognition responding to the transformations of warfare from the Seven Years’ Wars to the Napoleonic era. In On War , this mode of understanding focusing on specific details to predict the probable course of a conflict amounts to a form of evidential knowledge similar to that highlighted by Carlo Ginzburg. Moreover, the determining role of sociopolitical factors in war and the importance of historical case studies to train officers affirmed by Clausewitz situate his theory of war at the crossroads of practical knowledge, case-based disciplines and the human sciences.
In May 1983, two women's health events were held in Scotland. The first was the Women and Health Conference (WAHC), co-organised by the Scottish Health Education Group (SHEG) and the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. This conference was held in the town of Peebles, Scotland and hosted approximately 200 invited delegates, largely from Europe and North America. The second event, the Scottish Women's Health Fair (SWHF) was designed in direct response to the “closed and elite” WAHC and welcomed over 2,000 women from across Scotland to Edinburgh's city centre at the end of May. Using the archival materials from the SWHF and the WAHC and oral history interviews with SWHF organisers, this paper analyses the intersection and divergences between the grassroots approach of the SWHF and the national and global health agendas of the WAHC. I also explore the personal and collective ramifications of these fraught collaborations. While the SWHF ultimately remained “associated” and occurred alongside the conference, the organisers of the fair designed their event in opposition to the WAHC's top-down, medicalised, and universalised women's health agenda. In theory, these were two associated events and both had support from the SHEG. But in reality, the history of these two women's health events underscores deep professional and feminist divides about how to approach women's health issues and who was best positioned to effect change.
This article explores the research method of psychoanalytic ultrasound observation, which first emerged in the 1980s as a means for learning about foetal personality. Marking a significant shift in psychoanalysis's engagement with technologies of observation and methods for gaining knowledge about prenatal life, this article examines some of the complexities involved in doing such work. The findings indicate that in the first phase of this type of studies, the researcher's fantasies and projections profoundly shaped notions of foetal personality and subjectivity more generally. The second phase of this kind of studies provides a more nuanced perspective on the limits of knowing the foetal subject, using psychoanalytic thinking to reflect on the unconscious processes involved in the act of ultrasound observation. In sum, these studies can help us confront the limits of psychoanalytic knowledge about prenatal life, as well as offering a helpful intervention on the ethics of observation and the problematic notion of “foetal personhood.”
This article explores the role of expertise in the Czechoslovak prison system from 1960 to 1980. It specifically examines the Research Institute of Penology as a case study to demonstrate how scientific knowledge was applied to penal policy and practice. In the context of post-Stalinist reforms, expertise became an important element in the modernisation of the state, influencing changes within the prison system as well. During this period, psychologists and expert educators began working in prisons, and various research institutions were established to conduct penitentiary and penological research. The article investigates how psychological and educational expertise was utilised to reform prison practices and promote new methods of resocialisation. It also analyses the institutional and ideological constraints that influenced this process. Drawing on archival sources, published reports, academic articles by employees of the institute, and oral history interviews, the study identifies two key areas of research. The first area concerns the institutional position and influence of the Research Institute of Penology within the prison administration, while the second focuses on the implementation of its research findings. Notably, the study highlights the transnational exchange of knowledge, including the selective adoption of Western theories and methods despite political constraints. By analysing the dynamic and often contentious interaction between expert knowledge and state power, the article contributes to the historiography of socialist penology and the history of scientific knowledge in the context of state socialism.
