Fact Checking Scott Alexander’s Discussion of Julian Jaynes’s Theory on “Slate Star Codex”

Fact Checking Scott Alexander’s Discussion of Julian Jaynes’s Theory on “Slate Star Codex”

By Marcel Kuijsten

Read by Michael R. Jacobs (⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.theungoogleable.com⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/VoidDenizen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠).

In June 2020, the psychiatrist and blogger Scott Alexander wrote a review of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind for his popular “Slate Star Codex” blog. His discussion of Jaynes’s theory contains a number of misconceptions and errors, and I will attempt to clear those up here. While the first three sections of his review are more or less just a summary of Jaynes’s main arguments and some topics he feels are related or supportive, the issues I’d like to address can be found in the fourth and fifth sections of his post.

Read the complete text from this episode here:
https://www.julianjaynes.org/blog/fact-checks/fact-checking-scott-alexander-part2/

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Learn more about Julian Jaynes's theory or become a member by visiting the Julian Jaynes Society at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.julianjaynes.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.