Talk:Consciousness Studies/Early Ideas

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The piece on Homer is useful because it introduces the whole area of how minds or outlooks may have changed as well as how they were. We need an entry in the 20th century section on Jaynes' Bicameral Mind thesis ( http://julianjaynessociety.tripod.com/ ). On the subject of Homer, some quotes from Iliad showing how thoughts and actions of gods etc. were intertwined would be helpful (though I appreciate that locating apposite quotes will be time consuming). I put Aristotle up front because he is so central to medieval and modern science and philosophy, not because I believe he is "better", the order of the other philosophers is probably immaterial. RobinH 09:10, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

I think you need to consider how you motivate the history of consciousness per se as opposed to the history of subjectivity or personal identity or the relation of personal subjectivity to biological life or any number of related issues. If you go back to these sorts of concerns, then I think you need to perhaps do as Karen Armstrong doesin her (2006?) book The Great Transformation and show the origins of this look inward within religions around the world. If you want to limit your self to consciousness, perhaps it is better to focus on the Socratics--especially the Latin Stoics, like Seneca--who used 'conscientia' in this inward sense and had a big impact on Augustine.--Michelferrari 00:03, 8 June 2007 (UTC)---

Good points. The big problem here is that consciousness studies is so contentious. The biographical approach has been adopted to permit the historical section to contain divergent approaches yet still be useful to academic students, a sort of "lucky dip" of historical work. This is also why it has so many quotes - nothing should be reported without being supported! This section desperately needs articles on both Seneca and Augustine, particularly Augustine's view on time - any volunteers? RobinH 08:58, 8 June 2007 (UTC)