From: utzoo!utcsrgv!simon
Newsgroups: net.philosophy
Title: Re: Any Julian Jaynes fans on the net?
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.1042
Posted: Wed Feb 16 14:52:13 1983
Received: Wed Feb 16 15:17:51 1983
References: ihuxr.329

I've read Jaynes' book and was also most impressed by his definition
of consciousness. Its been some time, but as far as I remember he
defined consciousness as the ability to construct a mental hypothetical
world in which the concept corresponding to the 'I' could be manipulated.
The point I tend to be most skeptical of is that consciousness is a relatively
recent addition (ie within the last few thousand years) and so must have
developed some time after language. (He even argues that the early
Greeks, such as Homer, were not conscious by his definition.)