The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

Product Information

At this point in human history, humans started to lose their gods. Jaynes quotes from the Ludlul Bel Nemeqi—a Mesopotamian poem written during the time of the bicameral mind's breakdown—which clearly expresses this loss:

Bicameral mentality - Wikipedia Bicameral mentality - Wikipedia

Jaynes uses "bicameral" (two chambers) to describe a mental state in which the experiences and memories of the right hemisphere of the brain are transmitted to the left hemisphere via auditory hallucinations. The metaphor is based on the idea of lateralization of brain function although each half of a normal human brain is constantly communicating with the other through the corpus callosum. The metaphor is not meant to imply that the two halves of the bicameral brain were "cut off" from each other but that the bicameral mind was experienced as a different, non-conscious mental schema wherein volition in the face of novel stimuli was mediated through a linguistic control mechanism and experienced as auditory verbal hallucination. According to Jaynes, the bicameral mind was an adaptation to the emergence of agricultural societies. This wrought seismic social changes as humans shifted away from living within small hunter-gatherer groups, and instead started to lay down roots and to trade. One of the most profound changes to result from this process was the rapid expansion of the population. a b McGilchrist, Iain (2009). The Master and his Emissary. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14878-7. Although it is important to note the critical reception of Jaynes' theory, my aim in this article has not been to establish the veracity of that theory in terms of the origins of consciousness and human volition. Instead, my aim in this article is a modest one—to offer the reader a primer on the prominence of volition in Jaynes' theory. In doing so, I hope to have shed new light on what remains an important (if flawed) contribution to the field of consciousness research. Author Contributions Jaynes, Julian (2000) [1976]. The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind (PDF). Houghton Mifflin. p.221. ISBN 0-618-05707-2.How would ancient civilizations have functioned like this? According to Marcel Kuijsten, Founder and Executive Director of the Julian Jaynes Society, we have to remember that people still communicated with each other – and that these societies were highly hierarchical. McVeigh, Brian (2007). "Elephants in the Psychology Department: Overcoming intellectual barriers to understanding Julian Jaynes' theory". Julian Jaynes Society. Eric Robertson Dodds wrote about how ancient Greek thought may have not included rationality as defined by modern culture. In fact, the Greeks may have known that an individual did things, but the reason they did things were attributed to divine externalities, such as gods or daemons [35] What is your dangerous idea?". Edge Foundation. 2006. Archived from the original on 2008-03-06 . Retrieved 2008-02-19. He also noted that in ancient societies the corpses of the dead were often treated as though still alive (being seated, dressed, and even fed) as a form of ancestor worship, and Jaynes argued that the dead bodies were presumed to be still living and the source of auditory hallucinations. [3] This adaptation to the village communities of 100individuals or more formed the core of religion.

Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Book Review: Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The

Stove, D.C. (April 1989). "The Oracles & Their Cessation". Encounter. 72 (4): 30–38. ISSN 0013-7073. Williams, Gary (2010). "What is it like to be nonconscious? A defense of Julian Jaynes". Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences. 10 (2): 217–239. doi: 10.1007/s11097-010-9181-z. S2CID 144561661. a b Mitchell, T. C. (1988). The Bible in the British Museum. Cambridge University Press. p.70. ISBN 9780521368674. Henle, Mary; Jaynes, Julian; Sullivan, John J. Historical conceptions of psychology. Oxford, England: Springer. 1973. With the definition of consciousness mapped out, we proceed to Jaynes' idea of the bicameral mind. According to Jaynes, prior to the emergence of consciousness, the human mind was bicameral i.e., it was split into two parts: a decision-making part and a follower part. Importantly, neither one of these separate parts was conscious. For simple actions, bicameral people were creatures of habit, following well-established routines and patterns of behaviour. Every so often, however, a situation would arise for which routines and habits were not sufficient. In these situations the decision-making part of the mind was recruited. This would direct behaviour by issuing an auditory command. Crucially, these commands were not regarded as self-generated. Instead, bicameral people experienced them as being issued by an external agent. For Jaynes, this property of the bicameral mind explains the origin of gods in human societies—humans regarded these auditory hallucinations as the words of their god(s).

Conflict of Interest

For Jaynes, the bicameral mind was a fragile solution to this budding social complexity, and it only existed for about 7,000 years (emerging around 9,000BC). The success of these agricultural societies led to further population growth, which in turn made the job of social control harder to sustain, even with the hallucinated words of gods directing the populous' behaviour. On top of this, agricultural societies went through further cultural and intellectual shifts that served to undermine the efficacy of the bicameral mind. One change in particular posed a problem: the development of writing. According to Jaynes, writing allowed humans to escape the tyranny of their auditory hallucinations. Once something is written down, such as a law or code of conduct, one can walk away from it and return to it. In this way the auditory hallucinations lost their power and influence, which was instead transferred to the written word.

Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of Review of “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of

Danish science writer Tor Nørretranders discusses and expands on Jaynes's theory in his 1991 book The User Illusion, dedicating an entire chapter to it. [26] How Religion Evolved: Explaining the Living Dead, Talking Idols, and Mesmerizing Monuments (2016) by Brian J. McVeigh [52] Gazzaniga, Michael (1967). "The Split Brain in Man". Scientific American. 217 (2): 24–29. Bibcode: 1967SciAm.217b..24G. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0867-24.

Footnotes

Erkwoh, R. (2002). "Command Hallucinations: Who Obeys and Who Resists When?". Psychopathology. 35 (5): 272–279. doi: 10.1159/000067065. PMID 12457018. S2CID 6768239. The Origin of Consciousness was financially successful, and has been reprinted several times. It remains in print, with digital and audio editions appearing in 2012 and 2015. Olin, Robert (1999). "Auditory hallucinations and the bicameral mind". Lancet. 354 (9173): 166. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)75304-6. PMID 10408523. S2CID 28869281. Sleutels, Jan (2006). "Greek Zombies". Philosophical Psychology. 19 (2): 177–197. doi: 10.1080/09515080500462412. S2CID 220329899. Julian Jaynes (February 27, 1920 – November 21, 1997) was an American researcher in psychology at Yale and Princeton for nearly 25 years, best known for his 1976 book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. [1] His career was dedicated to the problem of consciousness, "...the difference between what others see of us and our sense of our inner selves and the deep feelings that sustain it. ... Men have been conscious of the problem of consciousness almost since consciousness began." [1] :2 Jaynes' solution touches on many disciplines, including neuroscience, linguistics, psychology, archeology, history, religion and analysis of ancient texts. [2] Life [ edit ]