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Julian Jaynes’s Followers (142)

Julian Jaynes

Born

in West Newton, Massachusetts, The United States

February 27, 1920

Died

November 21, 1997

Website

http://www.julianjaynes.org/

Genre

Nonfiction, Psychology, History

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Julian Jaynes was an American psychologist, best known for his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, in which he argued that consciousness is a cultural development based on metaphorical language that occurred 3,000 years ago. Prior to the development of consciousness, humans operated under a different mentality Jaynes calls "the bicameral mind." Jaynes argues that vestiges of the bicameral mind are still prevalent throughout the modern world.

Jaynes defines "consciousness" more narrowly than some philosophers, and his definition of consciousness is essential to understanding his theory. Jaynes' definition of consciousness is synonymous with what philosophers now call "meta-consciousness" or "meta-awareness ...more

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Julian Jaynes’s books

Average rating: 4.25 · 5,222 ratings · 654 reviews · 9 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind 4.26 avg rating — 5,099 ratings — published 1976 — 41 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness: Julian Jaynes's Bicameral Mind Theory Revisited by Marcel Kuijsten (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Michael A. Persinger (Foreword), William R. Woodward (Contributor) 4.04 avg rating — 218 ratings — published 2006 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Julian Jaynes Collection by Marcel Kuijsten (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Julian Jaynes 4.21 avg rating — 43 ratings — published 2012 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La natura diacronica della coscienza by Julian Jaynes, Isabella C. Blum (Translator) 3.97 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Consciousness and the Voices of the Mind 4.40 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 1985 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Le voci perdute degli dèi. Sulle origini della coscienza by Julian Jaynes, Marco Carassai (Editor) 3.82 avg rating — 11 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Historical Conceptions of Psychology by Julian Jaynes, John Sullivan really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1973	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La Naissance de la Conscience dans L’Effondrement de L’Esprit Bicaméral 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Le voce perdute degli dèi: Sulle origini della coscienza by Julian Jaynes, Marco Carassai (Translator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Quotes by Julian Jaynes (?)

“O, what a world of unseen visions and heard silences, this insubstantial country of the mind! What ineffable essences, these touchless rememberings and unshowable reveries! And the privacy of it all! A secret theater of speechless monologue and prevenient counsel, an invisible mansion of all moods, musings, and mysteries, an infinite resort of disappointments and discoveries. A whole kingdom where each of us reigns reclusively alone, questioning what we will, commanding what we can. A hidden hermitage where we may study out the troubled book of what we have done and yet may do. An introcosm that is more myself than anything I can find in a mirror. This consciousness that is myself of selves, that is everything, and yet is nothing at all - what is it?”
― Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

tags: consciousness, meaning, mind, self

39 likes

“Our sense of justice depends on our sense of time. Justice is a phenomenon only of consciousness, because time spread out in a spatial succession is its very essence. And this is possible only in a spatial metaphor of time.”
― Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

tags: justice, psychology

22 likes

“All of these concrete metaphors increase enormously our powers of perception of the world about us and our understanding of it, and literally create new objects. Indeed, language is an organ of perception, not simply a means of communication.”
― Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

15 likes

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Julian Jaynes’s Followers (142)

Julian Jaynes

Combine EditionsJulian Jaynes’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Julian Jaynes’s books