Does LANGUAGE create CONSCIOUSNESS? (Analysis of the Phenomenology of Language)

In this video I discuss the nature of consciousness and how it is fundamentally related to language. This fact was noticed by numerous thinkers including Nietzsche, Jung, and Julian Jaynes. This theory is largely based on Jaynes' theory but many philosophers have reached the same conclusions.

Sources: Julian Jaynes, The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
Friedrich Nietzsche, Miscellaneous
Carl Jung, The Stages of Life
John Lakoff , Conceptual Metaphor in Everyday Language
Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary

[sugarsauze]

Incredibly well put! This is a topic I've tried to explain to a few of my intellectual friends that can be quite difficult to explain in a way they'd grasp. Your examples and presentation of the information is the perfect synthesis of the deeper implications as well as simplicity for understanding sake. I've seen nearly all your content, but this is truly a cut above the rest. Keep up the great work man.

[The_Maze_Is_Not_Meant_For_You]

Theepan, you are providing graduate-level lectures, on what are arguably some of the most sophisticated, profound, and daunting material in the Humanities.

To the extent that it isn't taboo to invoke things like "Perennial Philosophy", "theosophy", "depth psychology"... I'd argue that there is a kind of informal interdisciplinary field of academic pursuit that, over the past several decades or so, seems to have emerged as a fascinating, compelling, and transformative vector of inquiry.

It eludes easy definition, but includes everything from the original ethos of "religious studies", existential philosophy, cognitive psychology, behavioral neuroscience, linguistics, semiotics, philosophy of language, etc. It covers thinkers ranging from Julian Jaynes to Ludwig Wittgenstein, William James Ian McGhilcrist Carl Jung to Douglas Hoffman, Marcus Aurelius to Sankaracarya, John Hick to Charles Darwin, Martin Heidegger to DT Suzuki...


Sometimes I call it "nomological phenomenology", at others it's "archeological psychology", or even "Existential anthropology". It is a Venn diagram of disciplines and thinkers who have helped humanity make sense of our experience of consciousness.

And, given the tragic degradation of the ethos credibility, and integrity of Academia in our current situation.... it is more important than EVER to have public intellectuals to fill the critical gaps left in the wake of the Socratic collapse of the University system.

And you, my friend, are among a very select few who have put in the work required to become a lighthouse, a beacon of light to introduce, guide, and encourage thousands of curious-minded people to better understand the metaphysical miracle of human consciousness.

So yeah, good job, my man. 👍

PP

[stunningkruger]

A brilliant (illuminated) video ..very “enlightening” thanks so much really enjoyed it. i think the words literary & literally gives us a peep into the nature of language & authority and how they entwine also the words sentence & sentience. You could say that in a land of matter where things matter, we are all characters in the great book of life & all part of a giant cosmic cross-wyrd puzzle “so what’s matter for? Just a metaphor?” :) language is like a map that bridges between inner & outer worlds. it's dynamic & continually evolving but it has also been shaped by all those who have come before us & thus contains a certain historical bias inherited from earlier ages that's difficult to escape from, as an example the following "sentence" : "many of us carry the courage of our "convictions" carries a certain sub-conscious bias.

[ReynaSingh]

i'd like to see more videos on language, very interesting

[adamkolozsvari]

Hi, great video and quality content as allways!
I would suggest a different terminology.
What you mean by consciousness I would simply call: thinking. Language creates the thinking mind, which is responible for this giant web of abstract metaphors or halucinations, as you call it, in which we live our daily lives. This is what the hindu sages called the Veil of Maya or illusion. I think consciousness is something much more primary, it is our fundamental nature, or true Self.

[christianityisunstoppable]

Show the Wunderpus photogenicus more please. Imagine having that in your subconscious. What’s that all about ? Great video.

[AtulKulkarni]

Language leads to unique cultural sensitivity. Some languages have names for colours that are absent in other languages. The awareness of presence of that colour will be vivid in the population that uses a language that has a name for that particular colour

[jusme]

Would it be possible to essentially put a governer on a peoples consciousness by creating a language designed to limit the mind? Is this possible? If i wanted to keep a piece of land to myself i would make sure i was the one creating the maps.

[arturkovacs]

The title at the moment says "Does LANGUAGE create CONSCIOUSNESS?". I assumed that the video was going to argue for why language is required to have consciousness but I seemed to be wrong. You defined consciousness but you didn't define language. The reason why I missed that is because I believe that dogs and cats are conscious but would you consider the way cats communicate a LANGUAGE in this context? If you do then what would constitute a metaphor in the "cat language"? Or if metaphors are not a necessary component to create consciousness then I'm confused why you spent so much time in the video talking about them. It's possible that I completely misunderstood the point of the video. I hope this comment was constructive. Best regards.

[betweenearthandsky]

Incredible, thought-provoking video. The only point is the utilisation of the word "consciousness", which I replaced with something rather approximating "perception" in your own understanding, as to me consciousness rather refers to a more metaphysical concept. :)

[Gdad-]

Dreaming happens in REM only and not deep sleep.
You conveniantlt just glossed over this fact.

[andreyiu]

What about the origin of consciousness? Like, is it generated in the brain? Or the brain is just an antenna and consciousness exists outside of it?

[nexusvoid]

Does this video help you to understand what consciousness is? If it does, congratulations! It means you are well advanced in terms of understanding the origins of human knowledge. If anything was unclear, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer.

[-DivinePharaoh]

You have a great channel bro!!! you just got another sub!

[tiagovasc]

Great stuff. What's your educational background?

[maxgarcia]

I think most of you would enjoy “How to Create a Mind” by Ray Kurzweil
A little skewed towards AI but very congruent with the contents of the video

[Magik]

Consciousness has its origins in the Self or the Divine Core. The ego is merely the center of consciousness as it manifests through the brain in an extremely stepped down, limited and partial way. The ego is under girded by the shadow and the layers of wounds and blocks in the body (primal repression and self rejection). Beneath these layers of the onion is the Self or the Divine Core and Circumference of the being. Consciousness has both a subjective aspect and an objective or Universal aspect. In the average person, the ego is severed from the Self. This is the "fallen condition" or the "human condition". There is a path back to the Self or Soul Core, which is located in the depths of the heart. At first a mental ego perceives that they exist in their head and believes they are merely a brain full of facts and knowledge. This is a very limited and impoverished state of consciousness. As a person approaches Self Realization, the center of consciousness opens up behind the heart and a person no longer lives and exists as a mere mental ego. As far as language goes...language is merely symbolic . The Self knows by intuition and communicates in symbols. At the level of the Self or Divine Soul, language is not even used but falls away. At this level of consciousness, there is direct knowing and communication is telepathic. Ultimately the 4 functions of consciousness must be integrated...thinking, feeling, intuition, and sensation. This happens with enlightenment or integration. Jung called this "individuation".

[zaneleadley]

*george lakoff not john lakoff. otherwise good vid

[AlvaroALorite]

Overall, very nice and well thought out video. Here are some notes:


1:25 what you mentioned, the spotlight metaphor and what you are defining consciousness to be in that case, fits more what psychologists conceptualize as attention (roughly, direction of consciousness towards an object, be it willingly or not)

11:30 this left-rigth hemisphere specialization (called lateralization) is not as strong as you put it. It's not like the left hemisphere doesn't get /store images in memory associated with concepts (in fact, it very much does). I know you are taking Ian McGilchrist's word here, but be aware he has received valif criticism for defending a "simplistic" even a bit "outdated" notion of the brain.

[overtonwindowshopper]

“Consciousness is a consequence of the metaphors we use” is far too strong a conclusions to draw from the material presented.