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The Self

How Old is the Self?

Frank S. Robinson takes issue with Julian Jaynes’ argument about the self.

Richard Dawkins called Julian Jaynes’s 1976 book, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind “either complete rubbish or a work of consummate genius” (The God Delusion, 2006). I first encountered its theories discussed in an article in an ancient coin magazine in 2001, and found it so outrageous I had to write to the magazine. Since then I’ve seen the theory discsussed widely, cited widely, and taken seriously, so I finally decided to read the book itself.

Jaynes (1920-97) was a psychology professor who argued in his book that consciousness as we know it emerged only a mere 3,000 years ago. That’s right: the builders of the pyramids were not conscious in our sense: they didn’t understand that their thoughts were their own, but considered them voices of gods.

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