The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

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The philosopher Daniel Dennett suggested that Jaynes may have been wrong about some of his supporting arguments – especially the importance he attached to hallucinations – but that these things are not essential to his main thesis: [22] "If we are going to use this top-down approach, we are going to have to be bold. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind was a successful work of popular science, selling out the first print run before a second could replace it. Jaynes's one and only book, published in 1976, is The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. These two works form the evidential bedrock of this theory, revealing in the content of their narratives the emergence of human consciousness. In 1984, he was invited to give the plenary lecture at the Wittgenstein Symposium in Kirchberg, Austria.

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Jaynes notes that even at the time of publication there is no consensus as to the cause or origins of schizophrenia.

It explores the nature of consciousness – particularly "the ability to introspect" – and its evolution in ancient human history.

origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral

This would have been the fading bicameral voice coaxed from the recesses of the mind and interpreted as the words of a god. Jaynes was born and lived in West Newton, Massachusetts, son of Julian Clifford Jaynes (1854–1922), a Unitarian minister, and Clara Bullard Jaynes (1884–1980).

the earliest writings of mankind to see if we can find any hints as to when this important invention of consciousness might have occurred. The extent to which his theory may or may not apply to other cultures is an open question, and one that more recent scholars have started to consider (see, for example Carr, 2006, and his application of Jaynes' theory to ancient Chinese ancestral sacrifices).