Who was Julian Jaynes?
A psychologist and intellectual maverick
Julian Jaynes (1920–97) was an American psychologist famous for provocative writings about human consciousness.
Born in West Newton, Massachusetts, Jaynes was the son of a Unitarian minister. He spent three years in the penitentiary during World War II for refusing to fight. He received his PhD from Yale and spent most of his career at Princeton.
Jaynes gained international attention with his groundbreaking theory presented in his 1976 book The Origin of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
His central claim was that early humans did not experience consciousness as we understand it today. Instead, they operated under what he termed a "bicameral mind." In this mental structure, the brain’s right hemisphere "spoke" as a voice of authority, which was often perceived as gods or ancestors, while the left hemisphere obeyed. Jaynes argued that this bicameral way of thinking guided human behavior in ancient civilizations.
According to Jaynes, this mental structure began to break down around 3,000 years ago due to increasing societal complexity. This shift gave rise to modern consciousness, characterized by self-awareness, introspection, and internal dialogue.
He supported his theory by analyzing historical texts, such as The Iliad, The Odyssey, and the Hebrew Bible. Jaynes claimed that the characters in The Iliad exhibited no self-awareness and followed mental hallucinations that they interpreted as divine commands, while those in the later The Odyssey showed conscious decision-making and introspection. He said you can also see this evolution in the Hebrew Bible, which was composed by multiple authors over centuries.
Jaynes believed that remnants of the bicameral mind persist in religious experiences and mental disorders, including hearing divine voices and the commanding voices heard by schizophrenics.
Jaynes’ theory sparked intense debate, met with both fascination and skepticism. Critics pointed to the speculative nature of his ideas, particularly regarding the brain's evolution and his interpretation of historical texts. Despite this, Jaynes’ work has had a lasting impact, stimulating ongoing discussions about the nature of consciousness. His ideas continue to be explored in neuroscience, psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology, marking him as an intellectual maverick who challenged conventional thinking about humans.