{"id":9663,"date":"2025-10-28T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9663"},"modified":"2025-05-24T12:22:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T12:22:13","slug":"a-first-look-at-julian-jayness-book-1976-the-origin-of-consciousness-in-the-breakdown-of-the-bicameral-mind-part-4-of-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9663","title":{"rendered":"A First Look at Julian Jaynes’s Book (1976) “The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind” (Part 4 of 21)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0273 With the distinction between subjective consciousness and bicameral mentation<\/em> ready at hand, I compare the two states<\/em> that are on display in Steven Mithen’s recent book, The Language Puzzle<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0274 The question on the left<\/em> comes from a judgment<\/em> (that rules out gestural origins for language).  This judgment brings the intelligibility of Mithen’s perceptions concerning various fields of modern scientific inquiry<\/em> into relation with the universality of an impression, a hunch, that cross-modal sensory experiences have a role to play in fashioning spoken words<\/em>.  The visual impression of the thing itself<\/em> crosses modes to the sound of a particular vocal utterance<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0275 The answer on the right<\/em> manifests Mithen’s commitment to<\/em> truth,<\/em> rather than his will<\/em> to bring together the various sciences studying the nature of language in our postmodern era<\/em>.  Mithen’s commitment<\/em> brings a intimation<\/em> that, after the domestication of fire<\/em> and after the voice comes under voluntary neural control through selection for singing,<\/em>hominins (such as late Homo heidelbergensis<\/em>) add vocal utterances<\/em> to fully linguistic manual-brachial word-gestures<\/em> as a way to better decode hand-talk under “hearthy” circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, how would hominins do that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh yeah, through deliberate synaesthesia!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0276 The astute reader will notice that the above declarations on the left and the right<\/em> do not take the shape of a virtual nested form in the realm of actuality<\/em>.  They conform to a similar, yet distinct, relation<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a picture of judgment2c<\/sub>, as idealized by the medieval scholastics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0277 Of course, medieval scholastics never formulate judgment as a diagram.  For one thing, parchment is very expensive.  Written Latin words, such as rationes<\/em> (for rational intellect, or “ratio”), species expressa intelligibilis<\/em> (for the intelligibility of perception) and species impressa intelligibilis<\/em> (for the universality of sensation) take much less space than a drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does that imply?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, the Latin term for “perception” must be species expressa<\/em> (literally “a kind of expression”).  Similarly, “sensation” must be species impressa<\/em> (“a kind of impression).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0278 Using Latin terms, the above diagram says, “Rationes <\/em>(relation,<\/em> thirdness) brings species expressa intelligibilis<\/em>(what ought to be,<\/em> firstness) into relation with species impressa intelligibilis<\/em> (what is,<\/em> secondness).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0279 Note the categorical assignments<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The category of thirdness<\/em> is the realm of triadic relations,<\/em> such as judgments, category-based nested forms, mediations, signs and so forth.  So, the element of judgment that is assigned to the category of thirdness<\/em> will “unfold” into the normal context3<\/sub> of a category-based nested form<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, the category of secondness<\/em> is the realm of actuality<\/em>.  The element that is assigned to secondness<\/em> is the universality of sensations<\/em>.  After all, species impressa intelligibilis<\/em> goes with what is,<\/em> and what is<\/em> tends to be more actual than what ought to be<\/em>.  What is<\/em> (secondness) will enter the slot for actuality2<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0280 Finally, the category of firstness<\/em> is the realm of possibility<\/em>.  The element that is assigned to firstness<\/em> is the intelligibility of perception<\/em>.  That is because… well… consider the idea of a nyet hypothesis<\/em>.  A nyet hypothesis<\/em> offers a better understanding of the question at hand than a well-constructed modern hypothesis<\/em>. Indeed, it offers a better formulation of the question at hand!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, in this instance, species expressa intelligibilis,<\/em> as what ought to be,<\/em> must be assigned to the category of firstness.  The intelligibility of perception<\/em> will unfold into the slot of possibility1<\/sub><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0281 Now, I ask, “What happens when I unfold this judgment according to its categories?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the diagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0282 Commitment2c<\/sub>, the unfolding of judgment2c<\/sub>, labels the above category-based nested form.  The normal context of a rational intellect3(2c)<\/sub><\/em> brings the actuality of the universality of sensation2(2c)<\/sub><\/em> into relation with the potential ‘intelligibility of perception’1(2c)<\/sub>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

0283 Technically, this statement applies to subjective consciousness, whose origin (according to Julian Jaynes) is to be located in the breakdown of the bicameral mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0284 Does that mean that I could substitute in the terms for the bicameral mentality?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, yes and no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0285 Yes, but the problem is that the inquirer starts to lose touch with subjective consciousness, because the labels apply to an unfamiliar noumenon.  What does it mean for commitment2c<\/sub> to virtually bring a phantasm2b<\/sub> into relation with decoding2a<\/sub>.  What the hell<\/em> is being decoded?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, decoding2a<\/sub> must be part of that thing that Jaynes calls an “auditory hallucination”<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0286 No, the Latin terms<\/em> suffice.  The Latin terms convey<\/em> a very strange connotation.  The species expressa intelligibilis1(2c)<\/sub>,<\/em> the intelligibility of perception (as well as phantasm), is a possibility that drives natural selection in our lineage<\/em>.  Our lineage adapts to the potential of species expressa intelligibilis1(2c)<\/sub>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This potential<\/em> <\/sub>belongs to the human niche<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0273 With the distinction between subjective consciousness and bicameral mentation ready at hand, I compare the two states that are on display in Steven Mithen’s recent book, The Language Puzzle. 0274 The question on the left comes from a judgment (that rules out gestural origins for language).  This judgment brings the intelligibility of Mithen’s perceptions concerning various fields of modern scientific inquiry into relation with the universality of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[417],"tags":[573],"class_list":["post-9663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-review","tag-bicameral-mind"],"yoast_head":"\nA First Look at Julian Jaynes's Book (1976) "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" (Part 4 of 21) - An Archaeology of the Fall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9663\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A First Look at Julian Jaynes's Book (1976) "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" (Part 4 of 21) - 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