Gara, Larry (1999). A Few Small Candles: War Resisters of World War II Tell Their Stories. Kent State University Press. ISBN 978-0-87338-621-0.

Bicameral mentality - Wikipedia Bicameral mentality - Wikipedia

Olin, Robert (1999). "Auditory Hallucinations and the Bicameral Mind". Lancet. 354 (9173): 166. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)75304-6. PMID 10408523. S2CID 28869281. Cavanna AE, Trimble M, Cinti F, Monaco F. "The "bicameral mind" 30years on: a critical reappraisal of Julian Jaynes' hypothesis". Archived from the original on 2019-07-16 . Retrieved 2014-06-11. {{ cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= ( help)As well as changes in the content of the narrative, the language itself also seems to change. Jaynes notes that, compared with The Iliad, in The Odyssey there are changes in the frequency of certain key words. For example, according to Jaynes there is an increase in the frequency of the word noos in The Odyssey, which Jaynes defines as the conscious mind. Just as importantly, it is the noos that now directs much more of the action in this work compared with its predecessor, reflecting a shift from god-driven to self-driven agency. Jaynes further argues that divination, prayer, and oracles arose during this breakdown period, in an attempt to summon instructions from the "gods" whose voices could no longer be heard. [3] The consultation of special bicamerally operative individuals, or of divination by casting lots and so forth, was a response to this loss, a transitional era depicted, for example, in the book of 1 Samuel. It was also evidenced in children who could communicate with the gods, but as their neurology was set by language and society they gradually lost that ability. Those who continued prophesying, being bicameral according to Jaynes, could be killed. [6] [7] The Origin of Consciousness was financially successful, and has been reprinted several times. It remains in print, with digital and audio editions appearing in 2012 and 2015. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind". Julian Jaynes Society . Retrieved December 18, 2020.

Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral

a b Jones, William Thomas (1979) Mr. Jaynes and the bicameral mind: a case study in the sociology of belief. Humanities Working Paper, 23. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20090714-105138181 Jaynes was born and lived in West Newton, Massachusetts, son of Julian Clifford Jaynes (1854–1922), a Unitarian minister, and Clara Bullard Jaynes (1884–1980). He had an older sister, Helen, and a younger brother, Robert. The family had a summer home in Keppoch, Prince Edward Island, which was a place Jaynes loved, and which gave him a Canadian connection for his entire life. [3] Still, Kuijsten stresses that more work needs to be done. "We could learn a great deal by reexamining ancient civilizations and retranslating ancient texts through the lens of Jaynes's theory," he says. "For example, I think the transition from bicamerality to consciousness could be much better understood. Exactly when did it occur in various cultures? How long was the transition? Did the different features of consciousness emerge gradually, and did different features emerge differently in different cultures?"

Cohn, James (2013). The Minds of the Bible: Speculations on the Cultural Evolution of Human Consciousness. Julian Jaynes Society. ASIN B00B5LWV82. To explain this abandonment, humans invented heavens and underworlds—places to which their deities retreated. And in the absence of these gods, a new psyche emerged, one that we too would now recognise. This is the conscious mind that we are familiar with, where decisions and actions are issued from within. Jaynes believed that it was at this point in human history that consciousness emerged. Contrasting The Odyssey with the earlier Iliad, Jaynes writes: Jaynes notes that the nature of divination changed over time and that the favoured practises seemed to ever more closely reflect the modern structure of consciousness, with humans edging closer towards a full experience of self-agency. 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. For example, the role of the gods has shifted, from centre-stage protagonists to bit part players in the theatre of human agency. We also see the more prominent role of divination, with frequent referencing of seers and omens. According to Jaynes, the shift from god-directed automata to self-determined agents can be seen in certain fundamental narrative differences between The Iliad and The Odyssey. He first points out that our modern concept of the will is entirely absent from The Iliad (the older of the two texts), noting that “there is... no concept of will or word for it, the concept developing curiously late in Greek thought. Thus, Iliadic men have no will of their own and certainly no notion of free will” ( Jaynes, 1993, p. 70). At another point in his book, Jaynes describes the soldiers of the Trojan war as being “...not at all like us. They were noble automatons who knew not what they did” ( Jaynes, 1993, p. 75). Here is the startling claim that up to this very recent point in human history, there was no experience of self-volition. Human will was “outsourced” to the gods.

“They Were Noble Automatons Who Knew Not What They Did

Julian Jaynes proposed the theory of the bicameral mind, suggesting that early human consciousness operated differently from our modern experience. He used the term "bicameral" metaphorically to describe a mental state in which the right hemisphere's experiences were transmitted to the left hemisphere through auditory hallucinations. This concept was based on the lateralization of brain function, although not implying physical separation. Jaynes argued that the breakdown of the bicameral mind would have stemmed from the use of metaphors. Modern consciousness, he wrote, is a metaphor-based model of reality, based on the way we use language to create metaphors. As this way of speaking and thinking spread again, like software rather than evolved hardware – it would have disrupted the way humans thought.Keen, Sam (November 1977). "The Lost Voices of the Gods (Interview with Julian Jaynes)". Psychology Today. Vol.11. pp.58–60. In June 2013, The Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies was held in Charleston, West Virginia. The multidisciplinary program featured 26 speakers over three full days, including keynote talks by Professor Roy Baumeister, Professor Merlin Donald, and Dr. Dirk Corstens. So it is the emergence of conscious will that signals the emergence of consciousness. As I have already pointed out, for Jaynes, consciousness entails self-volition, as well as decision-making. It is also the emergence of this volitional aspect of human mental life that marks the emergence of human consciousness, and which can be seen in the written historical record. The Iliad, The Odyssey and The Emergence of Self-Agency Julian Jaynes's The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind". Julian Jaynes Society . Retrieved 17 December 2020.