Saturday, May 16, 2009

Babies are smart

I've always known it all along. This fascinating interview of Alison Gopnik for her book "The Philosophical Baby" seems to affirm that.

Though all of us experience life as a baby firsthand, we’ve long held misconceptions about what babies are capable of thinking, feeling, and understanding. Only recently have we overturned dominant theories of development in which very young children were thought to be barely conscious at all.


The article is short but well worth reading. Here is what she has to say about two year olds:
They already seem to appreciate the difference between the kinds of morality that comes from empathy and the kind that comes from our conventional rules. From the time they are two, they recognize both are important but in different ways. That’s pretty amazing.


Read the rest online here.

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