Comments on: The Master and His Emissary http://mindhacks.com/2013/02/23/the-master-and-his-emissary/ Neuroscience and psychology news and views. Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:54:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Paul http://mindhacks.com/2013/02/23/the-master-and-his-emissary/#comment-53091 Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:53:49 +0000 http://mindhacks.com/?p=26151#comment-53091 I have not finished the book yet as it is a daunting task considering how dense it is. But I do have a feeling that his discoveries concerning the divided brain are monumental and an absolute necessity for us to understand.. If I could only wrap my brain around it completely. I think there is an existential danger in being too wrapped up in a left-brain dominate society.

]]> By: tomstafford http://mindhacks.com/2013/02/23/the-master-and-his-emissary/#comment-52358 Mon, 25 Feb 2013 13:57:29 +0000 http://mindhacks.com/?p=26151#comment-52358 Kenan Malik has this great commentary:
http://kenanmalik.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/divided-brain-divided-world/

With response from McGilchrist
http://kenanmalik.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/split-brain-split-views-debating-iain-mcgilchrist/

]]> By: LWP http://mindhacks.com/2013/02/23/the-master-and-his-emissary/#comment-52260 Sun, 24 Feb 2013 09:56:38 +0000 http://mindhacks.com/?p=26151#comment-52260 http://thenearsightedmonkey.tumblr.com/ (via The University of Wisconsin-Madison) has an interesting educational project going on, which leans heavily on McGilchrist’s work . . . and doodling and singing and who knows what else?

And thank you, Tom Stafford, for the Peotry On The Brain link.

]]> By: tomstafford http://mindhacks.com/2013/02/23/the-master-and-his-emissary/#comment-52204 Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:38:12 +0000 http://mindhacks.com/?p=26151#comment-52204 And here’s that interview that Vaughan linked to back in 2010 and Johan remembers reading http://frontierpsychiatrist.co.uk/interview-with-iain-mcgilchrist/

]]> By: Johan http://mindhacks.com/2013/02/23/the-master-and-his-emissary/#comment-52200 Sat, 23 Feb 2013 15:10:03 +0000 http://mindhacks.com/?p=26151#comment-52200 Actually you’re right that there aren’t too many references to Jaynes in TMAHE, but I just happened to remember this one particularly well because it’s something I specifically looked up after reading Jaynes’ book last year.

Must also say that TMAHE is worth repeated reading. I first read it shortly after it came out in 2010 (prompted by a mention here on Mind Hacks!), and then re-read it a year later. For me a lot of McGilchrist’s ideas became a lot clearer on the second reading. I may well read it a third time.

]]> By: tomstafford http://mindhacks.com/2013/02/23/the-master-and-his-emissary/#comment-52194 Sat, 23 Feb 2013 13:43:21 +0000 http://mindhacks.com/?p=26151#comment-52194 Thanks for the correction Johan. I used the index to track down all mentions of Jaynes, but obviously it or (more likely) my memory misled me.

]]> By: Johan http://mindhacks.com/2013/02/23/the-master-and-his-emissary/#comment-52192 Sat, 23 Feb 2013 13:21:43 +0000 http://mindhacks.com/?p=26151#comment-52192 Good to see another mention of McGilchrist’s book. However I think the comment about Julian Jaynes is a little off the mark. McGilchrist does refer to it several times, acknowledges its importance, and even states he believes that Jaynes was ‘close to making a breakthrough’.

However, McGilchrist merely disagrees with Jaynes on one issue, albeit a crucial one. The central idea of Jaynes’ book is the merging of a previously ‘bicameral’ mind (i.e. the two hemispheres). McGilchrist argues that the phenomena described by Jaynes were actually caused by a development in the complete opposite direction: a relative separation of the two hemispheres from a more unified initial state. McGilchrist elaborates on this in the first part of Chapter 8 (‘The ancient world’).

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