The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth Love and the Meaning of Life

About this book

How do babies think? What is it like to be a baby? How much do our experiences as children shape our adult lives? In the last decade there has been a revolution in our understanding of the minds of infants and young children. We used to believe that babies were irrational and that their thinking and experience were limited. Now Alison Gopnika leading psychologist and philosopher as well as a motherexplains the cutting-edge scientific and psychological research that has revealed that babies learn more create more care more and experience more than we could ever have imagined. And there is good reason to believe that babies are actually smarter more thoughtful and more conscious than adults. This new science holds answers to some of the deepest and oldest questions about what it means to be human. A new babys captivated gaze at her mothers face lays the foundations for love and morality. A toddlers unstoppable explorations of his playpen hold the key to scientific discovery. A three-year-olds wild make-believe explains how we can imagine the future write novels and invent new technologies. Alison Gopnik - a leading psychologist and philosopher as well as a mother - explains the groundbreaking new psychological neuroscientific and philosophical developments in our understanding of very young children transforming our understanding of how babies see the world and in turn promoting a deeper appreciation for the role of parents.