ABSTRACT
The role of monotheism in setting the stage for the evolution of humanity from the Axial Age to the modern age through the process of globalization is examined in this chapter. It identifies transcendental idealism with its four distinctive features (rational agency, moral responsibility, universal equality, and transcendental law) as the dynamics that drove the monotheistic communities and set them on their historical journey that formed the essence of globalization. The chapter examines the role of the intellectual, who emerged as the promoter of transcendental rationalism, leading to the rise of rational idealism that was advanced first by Islamic rationalism and later by Western liberalism. It also explores the contributions of Islamic rationalism to the development of the theory of natural rights that was adopted by European scholasticism beginning with Thomas Aquinas, before it was used by the Enlightenment thinkers to justify democracy and classical liberalism.
