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Marcel Kuijsten (www.julianjaynes.org)

Marcel Kuijsten (www.julianjaynes.org)

Marcel Kuijsten is Founder and Executive Director of the Julian Jaynes Society (www.julianjaynes.org).

He is editor of the book Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness: Julian Jaynes's Bicameral Mind Theory Revisited (2007) and co-editor (with Prof. Brian J. McVeigh) of The Jaynesian, the newsletter of the Julian Jaynes Society.... more »
  • Las Vegas, NV, USA
  • member since July 7 2008

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  • Jaynes, Consciousness, and the Bicameral Mind Discussion Group

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Marcel Kuijsten (www.julianjaynes.org)’s last login was Monday, October 5 2009. show recent activity »

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Public Notes

  • Paulina W

    Paulina W says

    Thank you for your very thoughtful response to my question about children and consciousness from a Jaynesian perspective.

    It appears that even if he does not consider infants to be conscious, since they do not have a sense of themselves progressing through time, and do not have the ability to describe anything with language, at least it could be agreed that infanthood is an essential precurser to consciousness. And in any case, he is not addressing legal personhood so I will stop worrying about that. :) I look forward to reading your book and Bicameral Mind. Such an interesting subject! Again, thank you for taking the time!

    posted 3 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Juliet W

    Juliet W says

    An absolutely mind-bending book, about which I still ponder.

    posted 4 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Michael G

    Michael G says

    Reading Julian Jaynes is a marvelous, eye opening experience. Maybe I'm not critical enough, but I wanted to believe all his major propositions about orality, the voices of the Gods, the mind of man, the trauma of the death of the King. Absolutely fascinating material and deeply rewarding.

    posted 5 months ago. ( send a note )
  • Paulina W

    Paulina W says

    I have thought about reading Julian Jaynes, and visited the excellent website above for a glimpse into what Jaynes was saying about a historic shift in the way the human mind operates. As a catastrophist, I am interested in what he thinks could have caused the transition from the "bicameral mind" to consciousness.

    However, I am a little hesitant to read his book, because his definition of "consciousness" seems a bit strict and limiting. For obvious social reasons I think that any definition of who is "conscious" should be flexible enough to include infants, and people with less developed mental abilities.

    posted 8 months ago. ( send a note )
  • jgthree

    jgthree says

    Thank you for the request, Marcel. Jaynes' book has been on my to-read list for a while now and, though I haven't gotten to it yet, I'll gladly discuss it when I do. In the meantime, I see that you've marked The Blank Slate as a favorite -- One of my favorites as well. Steven Pinker is brilliant.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Kate MacDonald

    Kate MacDonald says

    I'm pleased to be your friend. I read Jaynes decades ago, so I don't have much to contribute. But if you'll allow me to eavesdrop awhile while I root around in my storage locker until I find my copy, I'd appreciate the refresher.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Superb Curmudgeon

    Superb Curmudgeon says

    I read Julian Jaynes' book when it first came out. I was completely fascinated only to find him ridiculed. I am happy to hear from you since I have been looking for a follow-up of some sort for many years. Thanks for being in touch.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Chris C

    Chris C says

    Thanks for the invitation. Damn interesting book - to be sure. It has been a good year and a half since I have read it and I have been planning on reading it again. I just pulled it down of my shelf ( the one in meatspace ) and plan on reading it again. I will have more to contribute after I re-read it.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • VinVar

    VinVar says

    Greetings Marcel! Thanks for your invitation. I haven't read Jaynes book yet, but I find Jaynes thesis a highly plausible one based on whatever I have understood from secondary sources. The thesis accords well with experiences ranging from spirit writing or possession to clairvoyance/clairaudience to beliefs in ghosts.

    Over the years I have been interested in understanding the concepts of consciousness, mind, thinking etc. and also the role player by nature and society, heredity and heritage, rational and irrational in the constitution of our conscious mind, especially as it centers round the questions of volition and also the possibility of the supernatural.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Riccardo

    Riccardo says

    Hi, just recived your invitation and i'm honored to be in the "bi-cameral" group ;)

    Bi-cameral mind is a great idea and unfortunately an unfinished one. While i read the book i found something missing: in detail the profound and cerebral reason for which the “voice” architecture has been developed by our brain. I certainly understand the functionality (the book is exceptional linking in this) but still it doesn’t explain if this was the only way mind had to develop or a possible one.

    What i suspect is that there has to be a link between “bi-cameral” mind and the confabulation process of our brain (confabulation is a technical word to address the building of missing part of a story our brain does everyday) and the narrative structure of memory. If that would so, this means not only the “bi-cameral” structure is compatible with our (today) knowledge of brain in a profound way but even that for the very functionality of the brain that would have been the only compatible way of developing a pre-consciousness machine able to manage a highly complex network such as human society.

    I'm a reaserch student in Physics of complex systems and with some other friends (a neurobiologist and a student of philosophy) are planning to write something about it, as fast as i have a preprint i'll all let you know !!

    Last note: in the books of Ramachandran there is a wonderful review of several brain’s processes and i would encourage people interested to read for example “Phantom in the brain”.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Marconi

    Marconi says

    Heavy bookshelf, mate! Thanks for the food for thought...I'll have to get to ordering some of those books.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Marconi

    Marconi says

    Hi Marcel. I think the bi-cameral mind concept is brilliant. Like all brilliant ideas it is completely un-refutable, so unscientific in Popper's terms, but who cares! It is well worth re-reading Homer, Gilgamesh and the Torah with this fundamental concept in mind.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Vahid S

    Vahid S says

    Dear Marcel;
    Thank you so much for the invitation for joining the Jaynes community via Shelfari. I am really a beginner in Jayens’ theory and trying to understand what he means by consciousness. Basically, I approached the anthropology through history rather than neurology so my opinion seems different than what Julian tells. On my side, I am encountered with highly advanced ancient civilizations like Sumerian, Egyptians and Mayans and the way they affected our concept of the whole universe in the way that each step taken by science is just a rediscovery of an ancient lore and acknowledgment. This is a maze which one can hardly solve it or maybe never get solved.
    By the way, I am appreciating to be in touch with you and the Jaynes’ community. I hope that his theory is right because otherwise, we have to get ready for the very harsh truth which is heading our ways.
    Best wishes
    Vahid Safavi (serpents1997@yahoo.com)

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Duane D

    Duane D says

    I declined only because it's been so long since I read Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bi-Cameral Mind that I wasn't going to be of much value. However, I see you're from Las Vegas. I live in Henderson. If you still want to add me realizing that I have very little to contribute about Jaynes, then by all means, send another invitation.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Sieur Jehan

    Sieur Jehan says

    Thanks for the friend invite, Marcel. I have not yet read Jaynes's Bicameral Mind book, but hope to get to it soon. I find the theory behind it to be quite interesting. I've read quite a bit by Carl Jung... hopefully that will be a good "warm-up" for Jaynes. Best regards, Sieur Jehan

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Jassafari

    Jassafari says

    Hey Marcel....

    thanx for the friendship....it's a pleasure to have you aboard. But you will have to tell me, exactly what it is that you do?

    JASS!

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )
  • Devon R

    Devon R says

    If you like Jaynes, you will like Stephen J Gould.
    Check out Wonderful Life, The Burgess Shale.

    posted 1 year ago. ( send a note )


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