Our sense of justice depends on our sense of time. Justice is a phenomenon only of consciousness, because time spread out in a spatial succession is its very essence. And this is possible only in a spatial metaphor of time.
Julian JaynesRead
Civilization is the art of living in towns of such size the everyone does not know everyone else.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Civilization allows for the complexity of social structures where individuals do not have to know each other personally.
Julian Jaynes' quote highlights the essence of civilization as a developed social structure where people live in larger communities, which facilitates anonymity among individuals. In smaller groups, familiarity among members is natural, but in larger societies, the complexity increases, allowing for a range of interactions that do not require personal knowledge of one another, fundamentally altering the way humans coexist and interact.
Themes
CivilizationSocietyAnonymityCommunityInteraction
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of community and social structures.
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One does one's thinking before one knows what one is to think about.
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