Swammerdami
Squadron Leader
Humans have large operational differences between left and right cerebral hemispheres, especially in the "language centers." Is this the case in other primates?
I don't know why I wrote this in such a crude and misleading way. I am a Julian Jaynes disciple and interpret his teachings to mean, in the briefest summary:
I think this Jaynes model can be melded — albeit with difficulty — alongside other models. Rousseau?
The main thing separating humans from "lower animals" is language. Is complex language a key to consciousness and advanced thought?
I don't know why I wrote this in such a crude and misleading way. I am a Julian Jaynes disciple and interpret his teachings to mean, in the briefest summary:
- The development of language was a big change in cognition. I think Jaynes regards the use of personal names as a major breakthrough, but I'm far from sure of this: The language of other primates may be very primitive but I'll guess they DO use personal names for friends and relatives.
- Language led to a "bicameral brain" in which the separate hemispheres had separate functions. Schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations are two of several modes Jaynes relates to brain bicamerality. Has schizophrenia been observed in other primates?
- Humans remembered (and hallucinated) their parents' words even after their parents were dead, a modality which led to ancestor worship, along with obedience to kings and ancestral kings (gods).
- As Neolithic and Bronze Age societies advanced, limitations to bicameral ("schizophrenic"!???) cognition led to failures. Unexplained society collapses in history (Mayans? Hittite Empire? too-easy surrendering to Cortez and Pizarro?) might be explained by bicameral cognition being unable to cope, having difficulty in creating original thought.
- Better cognition, what Jaynes calls "subjective consciousness," began to appear (often early in the Iron Age). Famously Homer's The Odyssey describes its hero Odysseus as the first man who could think for himself.
- As subjective consciousness (gradually?) replaced the "bicameral brain," vestiges of bicamerality remained, e.g. in the Oracles at Delphi. I think "demon possessions," e.g. as described for 1st century Judaea, inhabited bicameral brains.
I think this Jaynes model can be melded — albeit with difficulty — alongside other models. Rousseau?