At a gathering the other day I mentioned Julian Jaynes, who caused a stir back in the 1970s with a very odd book about religion and human consciousness.
Roger Kimball was present. He later forwarded to me an essay on Jaynes by the Australian philosopher David Stove. I thought the essay so interesting I have put it on my website here.
Thanks for that article. I read and enjoyed the Jaynes book in the early 80’s and have thought of it often since. His was an idea that seems not to have caught on, and I don’t think he ever published the book he promised about how consciousness develops in children.
But something about it has always rung true to me, and even if he didn’t get it quite right, he pointed in a direction that no one else has. I guess I still think he was on to something, and nothing since has seemed so powerful.
I don’t see how Jayness is so controversial. It’s obvious a lot of people today are still zombies. Have you seen an episode of Jersey Shore? Those tools aren’t acting.