05. Appreciating Other Facets of Jaynesian Psychology: Part 2
03/22/24 • 9 min
Appreciating Other Facets of Jaynesian Psychology: Part 2
By Brian J. McVeigh
In Part 1 of “Appreciating Other Facets of Jaynesian Psychology” I began a discussion of aspects of Jaynesian psychology that if appreciated, add depth and perhaps persuasiveness to Jaynes’s arguments. I focused on how understanding Jaynes investigation of how language has constructed conscious interiority. Here I introduce some more facets of Jaynesian psychology. I suggest that given the richness and breadth of Jaynes’s thinking, we need to propose a “Jaynesian intellectual paradigm” that goes beyond mere psychological theorizing.
Read the complete text from this episode here:
Learn more about Julian Jaynes's theory or become a member by visiting the Julian Jaynes Society at www.julianjaynes.org.
Appreciating Other Facets of Jaynesian Psychology: Part 2
By Brian J. McVeigh
In Part 1 of “Appreciating Other Facets of Jaynesian Psychology” I began a discussion of aspects of Jaynesian psychology that if appreciated, add depth and perhaps persuasiveness to Jaynes’s arguments. I focused on how understanding Jaynes investigation of how language has constructed conscious interiority. Here I introduce some more facets of Jaynesian psychology. I suggest that given the richness and breadth of Jaynes’s thinking, we need to propose a “Jaynesian intellectual paradigm” that goes beyond mere psychological theorizing.
Read the complete text from this episode here:
Learn more about Julian Jaynes's theory or become a member by visiting the Julian Jaynes Society at www.julianjaynes.org.
Previous Episode
04. Appreciating Other Facets of Jaynesian Psychology: Part 1
Appreciating Other Facets of Jaynesian Psychology: Part 1
By Brian J. McVeigh
Jaynesian psychology can be distilled down to two major claims. First, until about three millennia ago individual behavior was governed by a different neurocultural arrangement called bicameral mentality: the right hemisphere generated audiovisual hallucinations interpreted as supernatural visitations (ancestors, chiefs, gods) that governed the left hemisphere (the “mortal” side). But bicameral mentality was no match for social transformations — expanding demographics, more complex political economic systems, mass migration, and technological innovations such as writing and bronze and ironworking. This brings us to Jaynes’s second claim. What he called consciousness, or subjective introspectable self-awareness, replaced bicameral mentality. This cognitive upgrade was a cultural invention, not a bioevolutionary development.
Like crowning towers built upon lower tiers and structures, Jaynes’s two claims rest on a number of interlocking theories that deserve attention. This is because unfortunately, reviewers, commentators, and critics often fail to see the subtlety of Jaynes’s arguments. Even critiques that are sympathetic to Jaynes’s claims often miss the nuances and richness of his theorizing, so it is worth exploring some of the chambers making up Jaynes’s intellectual edifice.
Read the complete text from this episode here:
Learn more about Julian Jaynes's theory or become a member by visiting the Julian Jaynes Society at https://www.julianjaynes.org.
Next Episode
06. Jaynesian Therapeutics and the Self-healing Mind: Part 1
Jaynesian Therapeutics and the Self-healing Mind: Part 1
Harnessing the Active Ingredients of Psychotherapy
By Brian J. McVeigh
Read by Michael R. Jacobs (www.theungoogleable.com). His YouTube channel is www.youtube.com/@VoidDenizen.
It is an interesting fact that the success rates for different psychotherapies are about the same. This is why researchers have searched for “common factors” that facilitate the healing process. The goal, then, should be to discover the common “active ingredients” of all therapies, e.g., the personality of the therapist, the “therapeutic alliance.” Could consciousness itself constitute a common factor that can be cultivated in order to repair troubled minds? Could consciousness underlie the effectiveness of the self-healing mind?
Read the complete text from this episode here:
Learn more about Julian Jaynes's theory or become a member by visiting the Julian Jaynes Society at www.julianjaynes.org.
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