Regarding pre-Axial age beliefs, those have left their mark, usually in a subtle manner that needs to be deciphered. For example, Murray's Five Stages of Greek Religion describes how the Greek pantheon would have aspects of animals, such as the boar, bull, or snake (the latter being adjacent to the underworld), and this being a remnant of earlier animist beliefs. Likewise, the Ancient Egyptian gods would often be depicted in human form with animal heads, this being an anthropomorphized animism. Essentially, divinity would shift from animals/nature to deified humans in an Axial Age, while still retaining traces of pre-Axial animism.
Mythology is also a useful vein to mine, since one of its themes is the triumph of the Axial age over pre-Axial beliefs. Using Greek mythology as an example, we can see this in the Titanomachy, Marsyas vs Apollo, Theseus vs the Minotaur, Perseus vs Medusa (the latter being a former Minoan snake goddess), and so on. The Bible, too, clearly shows the mark of archaic concepts, such as Nephilim and the Flood myth. Of course, there are plenty of other themes, such as the Myceneans breaking free from tributary status to the Minoans, humans being a fallen race, and so forth. But pre-Axial ideas are definitely lurking under the surface of Greek, Biblical, and other mythologies.
Other than that, it's true -- abstraction & conceptualization is useful up to a point, until it devolves into absurdity, as is happening now. Likewise, pre-Axial ideas & symbols have much to teach us, even if they can't always replace science & philosophy. Ideally, each mode of thought has its own role to fulfill, although I believe that pre-Axial thought should take precedence over the Axial. Another nomenclature for this is Odinic vs Tyrrhic, as offered by Imperium Press: https://imperiumpress.substack.com/p/the-odinic-vs-the-tyrrhic
"conceit" as in "The Enlightenment conceit to build a world on abstraction…" I suspect it is exactly as well as both more and less than a conceit.
To world(build) is an urge, as integral to our lives as the body we embody. It's the water to our fish. So it is less a conceit if it is an instinctual behaviour. The world/civilisation/empire is an outcome of that in negotiation with others doing the same.
It is a conceit as you say. This is the janus pivot or ratio, the abstract ideals are also outcomes of the moral urge which drives our worldbuilding.
In addition, it is more than a conceit where we are aware of all levels of these processes as a practical piece of survival inherited from the paleolithic, even if only dimly, and realise it is our responsibility to world, and not basely, lazily ignore it for small-world big-self reasons, nor take the word of a living god as we might instinctually agree/submit/obey (given the vagaries of individual life expectancy it could well be a stable form).
This hopefully (worlding springs eternal) will become more clear as our populations age into wisdom (except the boomers because leaded gasoline/petrol)(that's a joke joyce).
Regarding pre-Axial age beliefs, those have left their mark, usually in a subtle manner that needs to be deciphered. For example, Murray's Five Stages of Greek Religion describes how the Greek pantheon would have aspects of animals, such as the boar, bull, or snake (the latter being adjacent to the underworld), and this being a remnant of earlier animist beliefs. Likewise, the Ancient Egyptian gods would often be depicted in human form with animal heads, this being an anthropomorphized animism. Essentially, divinity would shift from animals/nature to deified humans in an Axial Age, while still retaining traces of pre-Axial animism.
Mythology is also a useful vein to mine, since one of its themes is the triumph of the Axial age over pre-Axial beliefs. Using Greek mythology as an example, we can see this in the Titanomachy, Marsyas vs Apollo, Theseus vs the Minotaur, Perseus vs Medusa (the latter being a former Minoan snake goddess), and so on. The Bible, too, clearly shows the mark of archaic concepts, such as Nephilim and the Flood myth. Of course, there are plenty of other themes, such as the Myceneans breaking free from tributary status to the Minoans, humans being a fallen race, and so forth. But pre-Axial ideas are definitely lurking under the surface of Greek, Biblical, and other mythologies.
Other than that, it's true -- abstraction & conceptualization is useful up to a point, until it devolves into absurdity, as is happening now. Likewise, pre-Axial ideas & symbols have much to teach us, even if they can't always replace science & philosophy. Ideally, each mode of thought has its own role to fulfill, although I believe that pre-Axial thought should take precedence over the Axial. Another nomenclature for this is Odinic vs Tyrrhic, as offered by Imperium Press: https://imperiumpress.substack.com/p/the-odinic-vs-the-tyrrhic
"conceit" as in "The Enlightenment conceit to build a world on abstraction…" I suspect it is exactly as well as both more and less than a conceit.
To world(build) is an urge, as integral to our lives as the body we embody. It's the water to our fish. So it is less a conceit if it is an instinctual behaviour. The world/civilisation/empire is an outcome of that in negotiation with others doing the same.
It is a conceit as you say. This is the janus pivot or ratio, the abstract ideals are also outcomes of the moral urge which drives our worldbuilding.
In addition, it is more than a conceit where we are aware of all levels of these processes as a practical piece of survival inherited from the paleolithic, even if only dimly, and realise it is our responsibility to world, and not basely, lazily ignore it for small-world big-self reasons, nor take the word of a living god as we might instinctually agree/submit/obey (given the vagaries of individual life expectancy it could well be a stable form).
This hopefully (worlding springs eternal) will become more clear as our populations age into wisdom (except the boomers because leaded gasoline/petrol)(that's a joke joyce).