Definition of "bicameralism" in English

noun

1. (government) The practice of dividing legislative bodies into two chambers with complementary powers and limitations designed to provide checks and balances against one another.

2. (psychology) Ambiguous misnomer for Julian Jaynes's theory of bicamerality, probably never used by Jaynes, rarely used in academic literature based on his work, but often found informally (compare bicameral mind and bicameral mentality)

   • 1978, Edward Proffitt, "Romanticism, Bicamerality, and the Evolution of the Brain", The Wordsworth Circle, Vol. 9, No.1, reprinted with permission in Kuijsten, 2016, page 134. Coleridge...could not revert to bicameralism either.
   • "...the evidence for bicameralism in early China." p. 2 "...to elucidate the evidence for bicameralism and the transition to consciousness..." p. 3 "...presents detailed evidence for bicameralism and the development of consciousness..." p. 14