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Julian Jaynes
added by joecowley
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I didn't read "The Origin of Consciousness" until it was republished in 1990, but it has been seminal to me in solving a riddle I had long been aware of: Why did our cultural history only begin about 4,000 BCE? Interestingly enough, the Jewish books state that the world began no so long before that. Why, then, did history start about particular point in time? Jaynes says, and offers much convincing proof, that history began with the arrival of consciousness. By consciousness, of course, he means that kind of consciousness that makes self-awareness possible. His main these is that our minds were largely bicameral at that time (i.e. the right brain was pretty much dominant when it came to thinking, and in the thinking upon action). Two of our oldest documents neatly illustrate this transition from right brain to left brain dominance. Both are attributed to the same author, Homer. The first, of course, is The Iliad; the second is The Odyssey. Personally, I have never liked The Iliad because, in it, the characters are all guided by the gods (in their heads). In The Odyssey, which I think is one of the greatest books ever written and very, very enjoyable (it is the first adventure story), Odysseus embodies the first human being who begins to think for himself and is self-aware. The Jaynes book is fascinating (at least, it was to me), but also take a look at The Iliad, and definitely read The Odyssey. Joseph Cowley
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Julian Jaynes (February 27, 1920–November 21, 1997) was an American psychologist, best known for his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976), in which he argued that ancient peoples were not conscious as we consider the term today, and that the change of human thinking occurred over a period of centuries about three thousand years ago.
Jaynes was born in West Newton, Massachusetts and attended Harvard University. He was an undergraduate at McGill University and afterwards received master's and doctorate degrees from Yale University. Jaynes lectured as a professor of psychology at Princeton University from 1966 to 1990, and was said to be a popular teacher, occasionally invited to lecture at other universities.
Jaynes' theories on consciousness proved highly controversial, to say the least. At the time of publication of The Origin of Consciousness, he was heavily criticized for pandering to pedestrian readers and not submitting the work to a proper peer review. It was, however, a successful work of popular science, and was a nominee for the National Book Award in 1978.
The polemics created by the book tended to overshadow his other achievements, which were numerous, mostly in the fields of animal behavior and ethology. Other prominent writers and scientists whose works were influenced or affected by Jaynes' theories include William S. Burroughs[1], Daniel Dennett, and Steven Pinker.
[edit] Notes
^ Burroughs, William S. "Sects and Death." Three Fisted Tales of Bob. Ed. Rev. Ivan Stang. Fireside, 1990. ISBN 0-671-67190-1
[edit] External links
Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness: Julian Jaynes's Bicameral Mind Theory Revisited (new book)
Julian Jaynes Revisited, an appreciation of Jaynes and the subsequent history of his bicameral mind thesis, published after his death by Anthony Campbell
Julian Jaynes Society
A Review of The Origin Of Consciousness In The Breakdown Of The Bicameral Mind
The legacy of Julian Jaynes
The Origin of consciousness..: Summary, selected quotes and review
[edit] See also
Bicameralism (psychology)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Jaynes"
Categories: Psychologists | Ethologists | 1920 births | 1997 deaths
joecowley April 26th, 2007 03:53 PM PST