Julian Jaynes's hypotheses about the origin of consciousness are as broad and deep in scope as culture itself, making his ideas so difficult to categorize. It is only too easy from a scientific view to say that these types of theories are not scientific or from a physicalist philosophical position to dismiss them as not being Philosophical, leaving such theories in a limbo from which Kuijsten attempts to rescue it.
The broad sweep of the evidence marshaled for the thesis, that the structure and function of our brains at a particular point in time, was responsible for the experience of man blindly following the voices of Gods is indeed impressive. Many phenomena for which we no longer seek explanations, such as the power of hypnotism, schizophrena, the tradition of oracles, the hierarchical structure of theocracies, the influence of writing on the function of the brain loom into view like an armada appearing on the horizon. Kuijsten is not afraid of the accumulated prejudices of generations of scholars and bravely follows in the footsteps of Jaynes in reviewing new evidence for the theory presented ca 40 years ago.
We are taken back in time over three thousand years and a picture of our life perfectly consonant with the theory of evolution and the ancient writings of the Bible emerges. The picture also provides explanation for many philosophical phenomena such as the importance of the emergence of Philosophy in the classical Greece of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The inner "voice" or daimon which Socrates listened to when in difficult situations also falls neatly into tapestry of evidence.
The implications of Kant's philosophy that God was an idea in mans mind and not some external force guiding and directing the process of mans cultural evolution is given further support from the presentation of external evidence. The process of secularization started with the Philosophical argument of Kant is given further support and justification. The voices of the Gods are no longer "merely hallucinations" but placed in a cultural context which gives them a role and substance in our cultural development. The old Aristotelian idea that the divine in us is the thinking process has always metaphysically suggested that God was an important idea and should be correctly understood. This ancient spirit is resurrected with Jaynes's theories and Kuijsten's defense of them.
This work also attempts to continue the work of Jaynes in broadening the horizon of Psychology into social and cultural dimensions which in turn links up with the heritage of humanism we acquired via the Classical Greek Philosophers, the Enlightenment Philosophy of Kant and the Philosophy of the later Wittgenstein.
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Michael R D James
The Origin of Consciousness and the voices of bicameral man
10 June 2017 -
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Deut
Good collection on Jaynesian discussions
24 March 2017 -
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Barton Funk
Not bad
22 July 2020 -
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Aimee
Clarity for Jaynesian Theories
25 April 2021 -
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RodgerTL
Good material. But read the scary sounding but very readable original Bicameral Mind book by Jaynes first.
12 August 2016 -
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