The full title of the 1976 best-seller by maverick psychologist and interdisciplinary polymath Julian Jaynes is The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. It is widely unread in spite of being on many to-do lists. Students who read it will find it fascinating and surprisingly accessible but doing so is not a prerequisite for taking the class. Rather, we will investigate one by one all the different strands that are woven into its impressive intellectual fabric. The course will include contemporary views of consciousness and critiques of Jayne's thesis.
