Important Julian Jaynes Society updates and developments that you might have missed… also be sure to check out our latest blog posts in the menu to the right.

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March 2024

Read the Spring 2024 Newsletter.
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Subscribe to “Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind,” the Julian Jaynes Society podcast.

February 2024

Read the second revised edition of Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness, now available worldwide.

November 2023

RSVP for this upcoming event:
The Psychology of Ancient Egypt with Brian J. McVeigh, November 16, 2022

October 2023

New for supporters: Watch Julian Jaynes present his ideas to science-oriented children at the Talcott Mountain Science Center.

September 2023

Read The Psychology of Ancient Egypt: Reconstructing A Lost Mentality, by Brian J. McVeigh, just published by the Julian Jaynes Society.

As of September 3rd, Amazon is running a flash sale on our latest book, Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind. Take advantage of this very low price while it lasts! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1737305534

Read our Fact Checks of psychiatrist Dr. Scott Alexander’s review of Julian Jaynes’s theory.

August 2023

Read the Summer 2023 Newsletter.
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Read our latest book, Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind, on sale through the September 8th.

Read “Consciousness as ‘Super-perception‘” by Brian J. McVeigh on the JJS Blog.

Read “Fact Checking Erik Hoel’s The World behind the World: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science” by Brian J. McVeigh on the JJS Blog.

Watch “Julian Jaynes and Owen Barfield on the Origins, Nature & Trajectory of Consciousness” on the JJS YouTube channel.

June 2023

Watch “Stanford Anthropology Professor Discusses Julian Jaynes’ Theory” on the JJS YouTube channel.

May 2023

Read the Spring 2023 Newsletter.
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March 2023

Watch “The Gods of Mesopotamia and the Presentist Fallacy” on the JJS YouTube channel.

February 2023

Read “Consciousness Is More ‘Nurture’ than ‘Nature'” by Brian J. McVeigh on the JJS Blog.

Watch “The Why, What, and How of Human Consciousness” on the JJS YouTube channel.

Watch “How Languages Create Mind Space and the ‘Analog I’“ on the JJS YouTube channel.

Watch “The Emergence of Psychotherapies in Modern Japan: A Jaynesian Interpretation” on the JJS YouTube channel.

January 2023

Watch “A Bicameral Semiotic: The Linguistic Sign as Image-Word Dyad” on the JJS YouTube channel.

December 2022

Read the November/December Newsletter.
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Read “Falling between the Cracks” by Brian J. McVeigh on the JJS Blog.

Watch “Q&A Session on “Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind” Part 1: Iliad/Odyssey/Sinuhe” on the JJS YouTube channel.

Watch “An Encounter of Julian Jaynes & Jacques Derrida: Consciousness, Divine Voice & Writing” on the JJS YouTube channel.

October 2022

RSVP for this upcoming event:
Q&A on Julian Jaynes’s Theory plus Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind Book Discussion, November 5, 2022

Read our latest book, Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind, on sale through the end of October.

Read “The Myth of “Pure Consciousness” by Brian J. McVeigh on the JJS Blog.

Read the September/October 2022 Newsletter.
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September 2022
Read “Animal Minds? Yes. Animal Consciousness? No.” by Brian J. McVeigh on the JJS Blog.

New articles, a new interview, and a new lecture by Gregory Conrow from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up.

August 2022
Our latest book, Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind, was published on August 22! All pre-orders were shipped in early August and the book is now available for immediate shipping. It is also available on Amazon sites worldwide and via special order from most bookstores.

If you’ve already enjoyed the book, please take a moment to write a positive review on our website, Amazon, and Goodreads. We appreciate your support!

Watch “David Duchovny Explains Julian Jaynes’s Theory to Bill Maher” on the Related Interviews page.

Read the August 2022 Newsletter.
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July 2022
Test your knowledge of Julian Jaynes’s theory by taking our three new quizzes.

Read “Consciousness Is the Word Preventing People from Understanding Jaynesian Psychology” by Brian J. McVeigh on the JJS Blog.

Read the July 2022 Newsletter.
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A new documentary on preliterate societies, new Q&A, and a new lecture by Eric Alexander La Freniere from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up.

June 2022
The Julian Jaynes Society is honored to welcome Dr. Clive Svendsen to the Science Advisory Board.

Pre-order our latest book: Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind

Read the May/June 2022 Newsletter.
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Watch the latest interviews on Julian Jaynes’s theory:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeoNH7dTwZc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAE5WL5XvDQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvIPCV_hCAY

Read “Julian Jaynes Is Not for the Intellectually Fainthearted” by Brian J. McVeigh on the JJS Blog.

New articles, dissertations, and a new lecture by Terryl Atkins from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up.

April 2022
Pre-order our latest book: Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind
Read the Spring 2022 Newsletter.
Not on our mailing list? Sign up here: Join Our Mailing List.
Read “The Need to Acknowledge Bicameral Vestiges” by Brian J. McVeigh on the JJS Blog.
New articles, dissertations, and a new lecture by Roy Baumeister from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up.

December 2021
Read the November/December 2021 Newsletter.
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A newly discovered interview with Julian Jaynes, new related articles, and a lecture from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up.

“They Were Noble Automatons Who Knew Not What They Did:” Volition in Jaynes’ The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, by James W. Moore

October 2021
New articles, interviews, lectures, and new lectures from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up.

Read the September/October 2021 Newsletter.
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September 2021
A new lecture by Julian Jaynes, new articles, dissertations, and a new lecture from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up.

August 2021
New articles and a new lectures from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up.

Read the July/August 2021 Newsletter.
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July 2021
The Julian Jaynes Society is honored to welcome Professor Martin Seligman to the Science Advisory Board:
Professor Seligman is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology and Director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania, where he focuses on positive psychology, learned helplessness, prospection, optimism and positive education. He is a best-selling author of several books, including Flourish. His most recent book is The Hope Circuit, his autobiography. 
Read more about Professor Seligman.

New lectures from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up.

June 2021
The hardcover edition of Der Ursprung des Bewußtseins durch den Zusammenbruch der Bikameralen Psyche (the German edition of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind) is now available in Germany (also serving many other EU countries), France, Italy, Spain & Portugal, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

New lectures from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies and our May 2021 Q&A Session posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up.

May 2021
We are pleased to announce that the revised hardcover edition of The Julian Jaynes Collection has just been released in the United States, France, Germany (also serving many other EU countries),, Italy, Spain & Portugal, and United Kingdom. It will soon be available for order wherever books are sold. This beautifully produced book has the cover art printed right on the case, similar to a textbook, so no dust jacket to lose or get torn. Perfect for Jaynes enthusiasts, collectors, and libraries.

The Julian Jaynes Society is honored to welcome Professor Edoardo Casiglia and Professor Laurence Sugarman to the Science Advisory Board:
– Professor Casiglia, MD, is Professor of Internal Medicine at University of Padova, Italy. He is a specialist in cardiology, pharmacology, anesthesia and intensive care, a clinical hypertension specialist, and an anthropologist and forensic archeologist. 
– Professor Sugarma, MD, is Research Professor and Director of the Center for Applied Psychophysiology and Self-regulation in the College of Health Sciences and Technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT); a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at the Easter Seals Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Rochester, New York; and Clinical Professor in Pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Read more about Professor Casiglia and Professor Sugarman.

The hardcover edition of La naissance de la conscience dans l’effondrement de l’esprit bicaméral (the French edition of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind) is now available in France, Germany (also serving many other EU countries), Italy, Spain & Portugal, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Read the May 2021 Newsletter.
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April 2021
RSVP for this Upcoming Event:
Q&A on Julian Jaynes’s Theory with Marcel Kuijsten, Brian McVeigh, and Special Guests, May 1, 2021

Watch the interview with Boban Dedovic: “The Evolution of Mind Words in the Iliad and the Odyssey“ (Julian Jaynes Society Interview Series). Log in or Sign up.

We are pleased to announce that the hardcover edition of Gods, Voices, and the Bicameral Mind has just been released in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and United Kingdom. It will soon be available for order wherever books are sold. This beautifully produced book has the cover art printed right on the case, similar to a textbook, so no dust jacket to lose or get torn. Perfect for Jaynes enthusiasts, collectors, and libraries.

“The Voice In Your Head,” by Sophie McBain, with discussion of Julian Jaynes’s bicameral mind theory and Jaynes’s influence on the Hearing Voices Movement.

Read the April 2021 Newsletter.
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March 2021
RSVP for this Upcoming Event:
Boban Dedovic – The Evolution of Mind Words in the Iliad and the Odyssey, March 20, 2021

Read the March 2021 Newsletter.
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February 2021
Watch the interview with Brian J. McVeigh: “Evidence for the Bicameral Mind in the Old Testament” (Julian Jaynes Society Interview Series). Log in or Sign up. Watch the preview on YouTube.

Did the Bicameral Mind Evolve to Create Modern Human Consciousness?

Read the February 2021 Newsletter.
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We’ve dramatically expanded our global distribution for all Julian Jaynes Society Publications. Julian Jaynes Society books can now be ordered in many bookstores worldwide through their normal distribution channels.

January 2021
We’ve released updated versions of all of our Kindle publications. To get the latest version, log in to your Amazon account, go to “Manage content and devices,” and look for the “Update available” link under the book title.
See JJS Publications here:
https://www.julianjaynes.org/product-category/publications/
https://www.julianjaynes.org/product-category/publications-foreign/

Watch a new Interview with Marcel Kuijsten and Brian J. McVeigh on Julian Jaynes’s theory.

Additional lectures from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up to view.

Read the January 2021 Newsletter.
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The softcover edition of El origen de la conciencia en la ruptura de la mente bicameral (the Spanish edition of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind) is now available in Spain and 8 other markets: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain & Portugal, United States, United Kingdom

December 2020
Watch The Voices in Your Head: How God Became ‘I’ – An interview with Brian J. McVeigh on his latest book and Julian Jaynes’s theory.

The softcover edition of Der Ursprung des Bewußtseins durch den Zusammenbruch der Bikameralen Psyche (the German edition of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind) is now available in Germany and 8 other markets: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain & Portugal, United States, United Kingdom

November 2020
The softcover edition of La naissance de la conscience dans l’effondrement de l’esprit bicaméral (the French edition of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind) is now available in France, Canada, and 7 other markets: Australia, Canada , France
Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain & Portugal, United States, United Kingdom

October 2020
A rare audio lecture by Julian Jaynes posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up to listen.

El origen de la conciencia en la ruptura de la mente bicameral (the Spanish edition of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind) is now available for Kindle on all Amazon sites worldwide.

September 2020
Rare video of Julian Jaynes’s giving his lecture, “Consciousness and the Voices of the Mind,” posted in the Member Area, along with additional videos from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies. Log in or Sign up to view.

New book: The Psychology of the Bible: Explaining Divine Voices and Visions by Brian J. McVeigh.

August 2020
Lectures from the Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies posted in the Member Area. Log in or Sign up to view.

June 2020
Neuroscience Confirms Julian Jaynes’s Neurological Model

February 2020
In celebration of Julian Jaynes’s 100th birthday, we officially launched the completely redesigned Julian Jaynes Society website and Member Area. The new site has greatly improved functionality, features, security, a better user experience, new content, and is optimized for both computers and mobile devices. Special thanks to JJS member Boban Dedovic for volunteering his time and expertise to this project. Thank you also to the Julian Jaynes Society members — your ongoing support helped make this project possible!

May 2019
Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind is now available in Korean.

Expanded to include a new, previously unpublished 30-page in-depth interview with Julian Jaynes, the softcover edition of The Julian Jaynes Collection is now available in the U.S. as well as 8 other markets: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain & Portugal, United Kingdom

The softcover edition of Gods, Voices, and the Bicameral Mind is now available for direct purchase in the U.S., Canada, and 7 new overseas markets:
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain & Portugal, United States, United Kingdom

March 2019
The Julian Jaynes Collection Kindle Edition is now available on all Amazon sites worldwide.

February 2019
The Gods, Voices, and the Bicameral Mind Kindle Edition is now available on all Amazon sites worldwide.

January 2018
The 20th Anniversary of the Julian Jaynes Society

January 2018
New book: The ‘Other’ Psychology of Julian Jaynes: Ancient Languages, Sacred Visions, and Forgotten Mentalities by Brian J. McVeigh.

September 2017
La naissance de la conscience dans l’effondrement de l’esprit bicaméral (the French edition of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind) is now available for Kindle on all Amazon sites worldwide.

May 2017
The Why Factor: Why Do We Talk to Ourselves?
Includes discussion of Julian Jaynes’s theory with Julian Jaynes Society Executive Director Marcel Kuijsten.

April 2017
Der Ursprung des Bewusstseins durch den Zusammenbruch der Bikameralen Psyche (the German edition of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind) is now available for Kindle on all Amazon sites worldwide.

January 2017
Celebrating the 10 Year Anniversary of our first book, Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness.

December 2016
The Trippy Theory of Consciousness at the Heart of Westworld

October 2016
The Bicameral Mind Explains What’s Next for “Westworld”
Interview with Executive Director Marcel Kuijsten on Julian Jaynes’s Theory and Westworld.

Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind May Provide the Key to HBO’s Westworld

Why The Bicameral Mind Theory Is Crucial To Unlocking “Westworld”

July 2015
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind Audible version is now available.

May 2014
Now available: The 2013 Julian Jaynes Society Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies Audio CD.

December 2013
The Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness Kindle Edition is now available on all Amazon sites worldwide.

November 2012
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind Kindle Edition is now available.

Two years in the making, Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind: Interviews with Leading Thinkers on Julian Jaynes’s Theory is now available for pre-order.

Free shipping on the first 100 orders. (U.S. only, select “Free Shipping” at checkout.)

All JJS pre-orders will include two free bonus articles: Brian McVeigh’s “The Psychology of Romanticism & Modern Art: A Jaynesian Interpretation of the Inward Turn” and Ross Maxwell’s “Eternal Rome: Subjective Consciousness and Immortality.” Links will be sent to download the bonus material shortly before the book ships.

How old is consciousness? What is the relationship of consciousness and language? What is the origin of god beliefs and religion? Why do people hear voices that command their behavior? These are just a few of the fascinating questions posed by Princeton University psychologist Julian Jaynes’s influential and controversial theory and discussed in this book. A treasure trove of provocative ideas, Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind explains, extends, clarifies, and presents the latest evidence for Jaynes’s theory in a series of highly engaging interviews with both voice-hearers and leading thinkers on the theory.

Advanced Praise for Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind:

“Julian Jaynes was my teacher in the early 1960s. … Much psychological science since then points to the possibility that he was right. Right about consciousness, right about ancient history, right about evolution, right about language, even right about Homer. This volume begins to close the gap, bringing Jaynes’s brilliance to the attention and appreciation of the contemporary public.”
— Martin Seligman, Professor of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Hope Circuit and Learned Optimism

“… A marvel of collective scholarship across multiple disciplines. … In this book, you will hear the voices of the most open-minded scholars of our generation.”
— William R. Woodward, Professor of Psychology, The University of New Hampshire, and author of Hermann Lotze: An Intellectual Biography

“Rich with ideas and fertile speculations, this outstanding collection of expert interviews advances the revolutionary work of the psychologist Julian Jaynes.”
— Richard Rhodes, Historian and Pulitzer Prize Laureate for The Making of the Atomic Bomb

“… It is time for a new generation of … deep thinkers at the heart of every discipline to rediscover Julian Jaynes’s tantalizing hypotheses concerning the origin and nature of human consciousness. This collection of interviews … will enable contemporary readers to understand why Jaynes’s style of inquiry remains as captivating and compelling as ever — and as provocative and controversial. Reader: take the plunge, and join the conversation!”
— Christian Y. Dupont, Ph.D., Associate University Librarian for Collections and Burns Librarian, Boston College, and author of Phenomenology in French Philosophy: Early Encounters

“… Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind helps us understand humanity’s development of consciousness over millennia, as well as how we learn it in our first years of life.”
— Loretta Graziano Breuning, Ph.D., author of Habits of a Happy Brain, The Science of Positivity, and Status Games

LEARN MORE/PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY

by Todd Gibson

In The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian Jaynes has painted a vivid picture of the collapse of archaic mentality in the Near East and in Ancient Greece, showing how what we in the modern world call “religion” underwent a major transformation. Previous to about the first millennium B.C., he says, humanity was not “conscious,” by which he means people did not have the capacity for introspection, of narratizing about past and future based on a concept of an internal self-existing in a metaphorical “inner space.” Instead, they were guided in unfamiliar situations by the dictates of “gods,” who were hallucinated voices (and sometimes visions) that had evolved as a side effect of language. These voices functioned as repositories of the accumulated wisdom of their societies, but were not cognized as being part of an individual’s psychological makeup; as such a notion was impossible for a pre-conscious mentality. Because these voices seem to have been localized in predominantly one hemisphere of the brain, Jaynes calls this early mentality “bicameral.”

Jaynes argues that in both the Near East and Greece, a series of historical catastrophes led to a situation in which the counsel and guidance of the ancestral voices suddenly became inadequate for the conditions prevailing in those parts of the world. The voices came to be heard by fewer and fewer people, while their pronouncements became more and more erratic. Eventually, as direct contact with the divine voices disappeared altogether, civilizations came to rely on recorded pronouncements of the gods (as is the case with the great religions of the West), or else resorted to techniques such as divination or astrology in attempts to discover the hidden patterns of nature and the cosmos.

Jaynes’s perspective on the history of religion in antiquity is both novel and persuasive, but it is for the most part largely dependent on data derived from the two cultural spheres mentioned above, which after all make up only a small (if disproportionately influential) part of world history. Since the belief that people in all cultures are fundamentally the same seems to be a commonplace of modern Western society, one might assume that all peoples of the world probably traveled a similar road to consciousness; a more detailed examination of the theory in relation to other cultural spheres might test this proposition. The focus of this essay will be on one Indic religion which originated during the period of history crucial to Jaynes’s theory.

Read more >

Join us on Saturday, May 1st for an informal online question and answer session and discussion of Julian Jaynes’s theory with Marcel Kuijsten and Brian McVeigh, plus special guests.

Get answers to your questions about the theory while getting to know other JJS Members and Jaynes enthusiasts! We’ll also be sharing recent items of interest, book recommendations, and more. The session will run between 90 and 120 minutes and will be recorded.

The session will take place on Saturday, May 1st, 2021, from 5pm – 7pm Pacific Time (8pm – 10pm Eastern).

More information and RSVP:

https://www.julianjaynes.org/event/qa-on-julian-jaynes-theory-with-marcel-kuijsten-brian-mcveigh/

Watch previews of recent interviews on Julian Jaynes’s theory. The Julian Jaynes Society Interview Series explores a wide-range of topics related to Julian Jaynes’s theory with experts from a variety of different backgrounds. Check the Events section to participate in upcoming interviews.

Watch full interviews and lectures in the Member Area, including lectures by Julian Jaynes, interviews with Julian Jaynes, full length lectures from the Julian Jaynes Conference on Consciousness and Bicameral Studies, and more. Log in or Sign up. Also please subscribe to our YouTube Channel.