A Different Theory of Consciousness: Did We Lack an Inner World Until Just 4,000 Years Ago?

Julian Jaynes claims that human self-awareness and the capacity for introspection are an emergent phenomenon that took shape around 4,000 years ago with the evolution of language.

Human consciousness is one of the most complex unsolved questions of science. We know that the brain's electrical and chemical activity is related to our mental experiences, but we still don't have a clear answer to a fundamental question: How do physical processes within the brain shape a person's experience of the world? Why do we not only process information, but also "feel" and experience internally? This question, which is known as the "hard problem of consciousness", is still considered one of the biggest challenges of neuroscience and philosophy of mind.

According to Zomit, among the various theories about the origin of consciousness, there is a very controversial idea that claims that human consciousness in its current form, contrary to popular belief, is much younger than man himself.

According to this view, humans had language, made tools, created art and formed civilization long before they had today's consciousness. But the ability to introspect, to think about oneself, and to have a mental experience similar to that of today's human, may have appeared just four thousand years ago.

Janes believed that man first had the ability to think and then became a creature that could think about himself.

The mentioned theory was proposed by Julian Janes, an American psychologist in the 1970s. He believed that we should distinguish between "cognition" and "awareness". According to him, long before the formation of modern consciousness, humans could understand their environment, learn, solve problems and have complex behaviors. But these abilities do not necessarily mean having an inner mental world as we experience it today.

For example, many animals probably have some kind of perception of the world. A dog can detect danger, have a desire, or enjoy something. But Janes was talking about a special kind of human consciousness that has to do with self-awareness, thinking about one's own thoughts, and the ability to have inner dialogue.

Janes argued in his book "The Origin of Consciousness in the Collapse of the Two-Site Mind" that the translated version of which is also available in Iran, that human consciousness is the result of the development of language and culture. According to him, man was able to find such a mind when language became complicated enough to make metaphors, abstract concepts and the idea of ​​"self" possible. Simply put, Janes believed that man first had the ability to think and then became a creature that could think about himself.

One of the main foundations of Jane's theory is that language is not just a tool for communication; It also shapes the structure of our mind. He believed that man was able to create concepts such as "I", "myself" and "my thoughts" by using metaphors. When a person can think about himself as a separate entity from the world, a kind of inner mental space is formed, which is what we call consciousness today.

According to this view, the wise man probably did not experience consciousness in the modern sense before he had a sophisticated language for constructing abstract concepts such as "self", "I" and mental experiences. According to Janes, past humans could know their environment, make tools, cooperate with others and even create complex cultures, but they still did not have the ability to introspect and think about their own thoughts.

But the question arises, when exactly did such a change occur?

To find the answer, Janes turned to one of the world's oldest known works of literature: the Iliad, the Greek epic attributed to Homer. He believed that the characters of the Iliad do not make decisions like people do today. In this work, the heroes often act under the influence of commands and messages from the gods, and there is little sign of internal dialogue, personal analysis, or independent decision-making.

Janes believed that past humans had the ability to know, make tools, and create culture, but without complex language they could not have experienced modern consciousness.

One of the points that Janes pointed out was the lack of precise words for concepts such as "mind", "consciousness" or "self" in the ancient Greek language of this period. He concluded from this that the writers and characters of the Iliad may have had a different mental experience from the modern man.

According to him, this change can be seen in later works such as Odyssey. In the Odyssey, the characters talk more about planning, making decisions, thinking and evaluating situations; Features that are closer to the conscious mind of today.

Some linguistic studies have also tried to investigate this difference. The results of some of these studies have shown that there are more words to describe mental processes and decision-making in the Odyssey than in the Iliad.

Another important part of Jane's theory is related to the concept of "two-location mind". He believed that humans of the past may have had a different experience of their mind and their brains functioned in such a way that the two hemispheres played more independent roles than today.

According to the bilocate mind hypothesis, ancient humans may have experienced some of their inner thoughts and motivations not as personal thoughts, but as a voice separate from themselves. Simply put, when making a decision, a person may feel like they are receiving a command or a message from outside, rather than the voice being part of their own mind. Janes related this experience to the past humans' belief in messages from gods, spirits of ancestors, or orders from higher powers.

Janes believed that this could explain why in the Iliad the characters often attribute their decisions to the will of the gods, but in the Odyssey they mostly plan and make their own choices.

Of course, Jane's theory has not been widely agreed upon by the scientific community. Many experts believe that the available evidence is not enough to draw conclusions about the exact time of the emergence of consciousness, and the difference between the Iliad and the Odyssey may have other reasons, such as the change of literary style or the evolution of language.

Examining works such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, Janes suggested that the minds of ancient humans may have been structured differently and experienced internal thoughts as external voices.

However, Jane's theory remains controversial because it raises a fundamental question: Is consciousness as old as we think, or is an important part of human subjective experience formed relatively recently in the history of our cultural evolution?

Richard Dawkins, a British biologist, said of Jane's theory that the idea is "either completely nonsensical or a work of complete genius." He meant that Jane's theory is so different and far from common views that it cannot be easily judged; It may be completely false, or it may contain an important point about how human consciousness is formed.

If Jane's hypothesis is correct, it means that humans have been creatures with language, tools, and culture for hundreds of thousands of years, but the kind of consciousness we experience today has only been formed in the last few thousand years. However, most researchers still do not know the exact time of the emergence of human consciousness, and this issue remains one of the biggest mysteries of human knowledge.