Vestiges of Bicameral Mentality
Brian J. McVeigh, interviewed by Marcel Kuijsten and Brendan Leahy, in Marcel Kuijsten (ed.), Conversations on Consciousness and the Bicameral Mind (Julian Jaynes Society, 2022).
Summary: Brian J. McVeigh interviewed by Marcel Kuijsten and Brendan Leahy on the second hypothesis of Julian Jaynes’s theory, the bicameral mind.
Excerpt: Marcel Kuijsten: Some people may think of Jaynes’s theory as only being concerned with a psychological change that took place in ancient history. I think that understanding the transition from bicameral mentality to consciousness is absolutely essential to an accurate view of human history, but Jaynes’s theory is also very relevant to modern life. In fact, one of the early appeals of Jaynes’s theory to me personally was that it allowed me to make sense of so many different aspects of modern life that, without Jaynes’s theory, seem more or less inexplicable. What are some of the modern day implications of Jaynes’s theory?
Brian McVeigh: This is an extremely crucial issue, and I’m glad you asked the question. Jaynes’s work actually has numerous practical and therapeutic
implications. …