ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews theories of world history in an effort to understand the relationship between culture and civilization and to assess the trajectory of liberal democracy. It looks into the idea that world history is the theater for the evolution of freedom proposed by Kant, which was later developed into a full-fledged theory in the philosophical writings of Hegel. It also reviews the works of two prominent philosophers of history, Spengler and Toynbee, and explores the complex relationship between culture and history, pointing out that unlike what Huntington assumes, culture forms the intellectual and moral ground on which economic and technological development we associate with civilizations take place. It reveals the complexity of the historical patterns that underpin the trajectory of globalization, as it combines unilinear and cyclical elements that explain the repetitive conversion and divergence in world history. Finally, the chapter explores the proposition of the “Axial Age” introduced by Karl Jaspers and underscores the qualities that make this period in human history an important starting point to understand historical change in general and the monotheistic outbreak in particular.
