Origin of Consciousness: the Bicameral Mind

[Commander Dutch]

In 1976, Princeton psychologist Julian Jaynes published his book "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind".

The human brain is divided into two hemispheres which are not equal in nature; in most people the left brain, which controls the right side of the body, is segmented into sections for linear thought, language and other functions. The right brain is more holistic in nature. Since 90% of human beings are right-handed, they are primarily left-brain dominant.

Jaynes' theory is that, over 3000 years ago near the end of the Bronze Age, the split between brains was more prominent. That human beings were bicameral, where the cognitive functions of the brain were divided between one which is "speaking" and the other which is obeying. This entails auditory hallucinations where the person hears a voice/voices from the side of the brain "speaking". This means that people over 3000 years ago experienced the world as schizophrenics.

Jaynes' also theorized that the collapse of the Bronze Age brought about modern human cognitive functions.

Jaynes’s theory can be broken down into four independent hypotheses:

1. Consciousness — as he carefully defines it — is a learned process based on metaphorical language. Misunderstandings about Jaynes’s theory usually stem from not understanding Jaynes’s more precise definition of consciousness.
2. That preceding the development of consciousness there was a different mentality based on verbal hallucinations called the bicameral (‘two-chambered’) mind.
3. Dating the development of consciousness (as Jaynes carefully defines it) to around the end of the second millennium B.C.E. in Greece and Mesopotamia. The transition occurred at different times in other parts of the world.
4. The neurological model for the bicameral mind, which has now been confirmed by dozens of brain imaging studies.

https://www.julianjaynes.org/resources/books/ooc/
Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

https://www.julianjaynes.org/about/about-jaynes-theory/overview/
Overview of Julian Jaynes’s Theory of Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind

 

[Cypress]

So why did he think the collapse of the Bronze Age would have brought about a change to human cognition?

 

[Saint Guinefort]

So why did he think the collapse of the Bronze Age would have brought about a change to human cognition?

Probably because of hypertrophic exsanguination. I believe it was Martin Luther in his 95 theses that he tacked up on the door of the cathedral. But I digress. In the words of the Buddha "Balance and might fun fun fun." Have you read Heigl? How about Heidegger? Kant? Here's some more philosophers I know the names of: Schoppenhauer, Descartes (not pronounced "dez-carteeez" like I originally thought) and Rubensteinians.

I'm ridiculously well read just like you, Cypress!

 

[Saint Guinefort]

Hey, Cypress, why do you have the Russian flag as your icon? Are you a Russian? Cool! Are you part of one of those troll farms? Or do you just like Putin a lot?

 

[Cypress]

Probably because of hypertrophic exsanguination. I believe it was Martin Luther in his 95 theses that he tacked up on the door of the cathedral. But I digress. In the words of the Buddha "Balance and might fun fun fun." Have you read Heigl? How about Heidegger? Kant? Here's some more philosophers I know the names of: Schoppenhauer, Descartes (not pronounced "dez-carteeez" like I originally thought) and Rubensteinians.

I'm ridiculously well read just like you, Cypress!

If you actually had a PhD, instead of lying about it, your dissertation and every scientific paper you ever wrote would have been littered with long lists of references and citations to experts, authorities, and leading intellectuals in the field.

I have a habit I picked up in grad school of supporting my ideas, my thoughts, my posts by demonstrating that some of the most important intellectual figures in human history were on the same page as me.

 

[Saint Guinefort]

If you actually had a PhD, instead of lying about it, your dissertation and every scientific paper you ever wrote would have been littered with long lists of references and citations to experts, authorities, and leading intellectuals in the field.

I have a habit I picked up in grad school of supporting my ideas, my thoughts, my posts by demonstrating that some of the most important intellectual figures in human history were on the same page as me.

Grad school? Ummm, yeah, sure. LOL.

 

[Commander Dutch]

So why did he think the collapse of the Bronze Age would have brought about a change to human cognition?

My understanding is that the collapse of civilizations caused so much disruption that people were forced to think in new ways. You've mentioned the Axial Age several times. It, too, would be explained by cognitive changes in mankind.

https://www.worldhistory.org/Bronze_Age_Collapse/

The primary causes advanced for the Bronze Age Collapse are:

• Natural Catastrophes (earthquakes)
• Climate Change (which caused drought and famine)
• Internal Rebellions (class wars)
• Invasions (primarily by the Sea Peoples)
• Disruption of Trade Relations/Systems Collapse (political instability

https://www.julianjaynes.org/resour...es-and-the-bicameral-mind-book-review-sassen/

...In his second essay in this book Bill Rowe agrees with Jaynes that you can see the development of consciousness in two ways: from the history – Bronze Age people had perfect executive functions, but were not conscious – and from development in children. Around 500 BC, when consciousness developed, almost all world religions came into being. For children, Rowe describes five milestones to consciousness. If children missed participating in interpersonal affect attunements in the first year of life, they could develop the same inability with social interactions as autistic people have. Bicameral people, like autistic people, do have language, but they do not have a Theory of Mind.

Theory of Mind
Theory of Mind is the ability to attribute mental states – beliefs, intentions, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc. – to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one’s own....

 

[Cypress]

...In his second essay in this book Bill Rowe agrees with Jaynes that you can see the development of consciousness in two ways: from the history – Bronze Age people had perfect executive functions, but were not conscious.

Around 500 BC, when consciousness developed, almost all world religions came into being. For children, Rowe describes five milestones to consciousness. If children missed participating in interpersonal affect attunements in the first year of life, they could develop the same inability with social interactions as autistic people have. Bicameral people, like autistic people, do have language, but they do not have a Theory of Mind.

Theory of Mind
Theory of Mind is the ability to attribute mental states – beliefs, intentions, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc. – to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one’s own

It does sound like the Axial Age hypothesis.

Whatever happened, the inward turn of human conciousness happened at a pivotal point in history, right after the Greek Dark Ages, the collapse of Eastern Mediterranean civilization, the Spring and Autumn period in China, and the increase in conflict in central Asia, and the rise of classical Hinduism in the subcontinent..

 

[serendipity]

Probably because of hypertrophic exsanguination. I believe it was Martin Luther in his 95 theses that he tacked up on the door of the cathedral. But I digress. In the words of the Buddha "Balance and might fun fun fun." Have you read Heigl? How about Heidegger? Kant? Here's some more philosophers I know the names of: Schoppenhauer, Descartes (not pronounced "dez-carteeez" like I originally thought) and Rubensteinians.

I'm ridiculously well read just like you, Cypress!

Good that you've discovered that he's a pompous windbag.

 

[Commander Dutch]

Good that you've discovered that he's a pompous windbag.

The common lament of dimwitted Limeys running from an Interpol poster by hiding out in a Third World Shithole under a pedophile King.