The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

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The McMaster-Bauer Symposium on Consciousness at McMaster University was held in November 1983, with lectures and discussion by Julian Jaynes, Daniel Dennett, and others.

The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral

From a will-less gigolo of a divinity to the gore-spattered lion on his own hearth, Odysseus becomes “Odysseus” (Jaynes, 1993, p. Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Rethinking the History, Science, and Meaning of Auditory Hallucination. When bicameral mentality as a method of social control was no longer adaptive in complex civilizations, this mental model was replaced by the conscious mode of thought which, Jaynes argued, is grounded in the acquisition of metaphorical language learned by exposure to narrative practice. Although perfectly consistent with his theory, Jaynes' suggestion that the notion of responsibility was absent from human societies until very recently is rather jarring.On top of this, agricultural societies went through further cultural and intellectual shifts that served to undermine the efficacy of the bicameral mind.

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Jaynes wrote an extensive afterword for the 1990 edition of his book, [11] in which he addressed criticisms and clarified that his theory has four separate hypotheses: 1) consciousness is based on and accessed by language; 2) the non-conscious bicameral mind is based on verbal hallucinations; 3) the breakdown of bicameral mind precedes consciousness, but the dating is variable; 4) the 'double brain' of bicamerality is based on the two hemispheres of the cerebral cortex being organized differently from today's functional lateralization. These two works form the evidential bedrock of this theory, revealing in the content of their narratives the emergence of human consciousness. Other scholars, such as Sinologist Michael Carr and Tibetologist Todd Gibson, have continued to explore and advance the hypothesis, and have documented evidence for bicameralism in places like China and Tibet.He asserted that the lack of evidence for insanity in ancient texts before the transition period supported his theory.

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The theory posits that the human mind once operated in a state in which cognitive functions were divided between one part of the brain which appears to be "speaking", and a second part which listens and obeys—a bicameral mind, and that the breakdown of this division gave rise to consciousness in humans.

This process ultimately brings us to The Odyssey, and it is in the narrative of The Odyssey that, according to Jaynes, we can see this proto-agency becoming a more fully-fledged self-agency. The Julian Jaynes Conference on Consciousness was organized by Professor Scott Greer at the University of Prince Edward Island in 2006 and 2008 (a one-day symposium was held from 2002-2005), and featured speakers such as Daniel Dennett, Michael Gazzaniga, Richard Restak, Karl Pribram, and many others. Bicameral mentality has also been discussed in an analysis of Total War Saga: Troy's depiction of the Trojan War.