Jan Sleutels - Greek Zombies (Part 1 of 3)

"Greek Zombies" a lecture given by Professor of Philosophy Jan Sleutels (Leiden University) at the 2006 Julian Jaynes Conference on Consciousness at the University of Prince Edward Island. For more see Prof. Sleutels' chapter in the book "Reflections on the Dawn of Consciousness: Julian Jaynes's Bicameral Mind Theory Revisited."

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• bicameral
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[julianjaynessociety]

Keep in mind it re-emerges so to speak to varying degrees in different indivduals in the form of auditory hallucinations; for some (now called schizophrenic) the voices take over behavior. For modern civilization to return to a bicameral mentality I think would require some type of complete global breakdown in society (nuclear war?) & a return to a more tribal type state. Language would also have to degrade as consciousness according to Jaynes is a learned process based on metaphorical language.

[pearlsfortheswines]

That's why the Bible says that in the beginning there was 'The Word', it's not about the creation of the material world, it's about 'a concept' that started a thought process and gave rise to the sensation of consciousness.

[kimrathbone]

And infants with attention deficit - for a poorly developed or fragmentary 'self'

Could this give rise to psychopathy?

I was thinking along the lines that rather than think of Greeek Zombies as schizophrenic one might consider psychopaths as the result of a phase change in consciousness like that attributable to Jaynes.

A fractured identity of self woul explain a lot about psychopaths.

Also evolution would have kept them around (and their traits in the modern mind.

[kimrathbone]

Suppose that there was an earlier transition in consciousness.

When hominids already with a gestural language discovered mirrors. (probably by accident )

They then developed a concept of self through this technology and a type of egocentric consciousness.

So one had 'pre-mirror zombies' (possibly Neanderthals)

The post mirror people were Greek Zombies and so on.

Suppose that modern infants go through this mirror phase of developing self aware consciousness.

[MSJ11]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this on Youtube!!!!!!!

[macedonianphalanx]

Could bicamerality re-emerge? If so what could trigger that?

Reading OC I understood that bicamerality broke down because of certain stress events that shut down the voices. I wonder if other events and stresses could reverse the process. Could bicamerality re-emerge? If so what could trigger that?

A further question is: can our advanced civilisation be maintained if bicamerality were to re-emerge?

I would appreciate your thoughts on these questions. Thank you, Abdul