轴心世纪（德语：Achsenzeit），由德国哲学家卡尔·雅士培提出的哲学发展理论。意指西元前八百年至西元前两百年之间，在这段时期中，世上主要宗教背后的哲学都同时发展起来。一些人类学家相信，轴心时代由农业引发。

这个理论由德国哲学家卡尔·雅士培在《历史的起源与目标》（The Origin and Goal of History）中提出的哲学发展理论。他认为，当时世上主要宗教背后的哲学都在公元前1千年的600年间发展起来，大约从公元前8世纪到前2世纪之间。在这期间，不论是中国、印度及西方，都有革命性的思潮涌现。在中国，轴心文明的标志就是孔子（所谓“天不生仲尼，万古如长夜”）及其儒家学说，基本上是一些伦理纲常、道德说教。

Axial Age (also Axis Age, from German German:Achsenzeit) is a term coined by German philosopher Karl Jaspers in the sense of a "pivotal age" characterizing the period of ancient history during about the 8th to 3rd centuries BC. During this time, according to Jaspers' concept, new ways of thinking appeared in Persia, India, China and the Greco-Roman world in religion and philosophy, in a striking parallel development without any obvious direct cultural contact between all of the participating cultures of the Old World.