Axial Civilizations and World History

Johann P. Arnason, dr.habil. in Sociology, University of Bielefeld 1975 is now Emeritus Professor in Sociology at La Trobe University, Melbourne. His major publications include Social Theory and Japanese Experience (London, 1997) and Civilizations in Dispute (Leiden-Boston, 2003). S.N. Eisenstadt, Ph.D. (1947), Jerusalem, is Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is member of many academies, recipient of honorary doctoral degrees of the Universities of Tel Aviv, Helsinki, Harvard, Duke, Budapest and Hebrew Union College. Recipient of many prizes and awards, he is author of more than 50 books. Bjorn Wittrock, Ph.D. (1974), formerly Lars Hierta Professor of Government at Stockholm University, is now University Professor at Uppsala University and Principal of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, Uppsala. He has published extensively in the fields of intellectual history, historical social science and social theory. His publications include fourteen books, among them: Public Spheres and Collective Identities (New Brunswick, N.J., 2001).