Philosophy Meets the Infant

<p>Infancy research and philosophy explore “first things” yet few books bring the two fields into contact. Stephen Langfur’s <i>Philosophy Meets the Infant</i> integrates groundbreaking infancy studies of the last 50 years to offer a fresh exploration of our drive for human connection. He begins with a new understanding of self-awareness which he locates in reciprocal attention between baby and caregiver. Instead of “I think therefore I am” the new research supports “You attend therefore I am.” The event of becoming self-aware through another is termed a “You-I Event.”</p><p>The idea is counterintuitive: we are perfectly self-aware when alone! To explain the change after infancy Langfur makes transformative use of an old psychoanalytic finding. With the onset of language a child internalizes (introjects) the most important You’s playing them toward herself in speech. Instead of the original You-I Event we have its counterfeit in our heads. Nevertheless a longing for the true Event persists in the unconscious; individual chapters trace this longing in work love art conversation and religion.</p><p>Organized into three parts (“The You-I Event in infancy and why it disappears The You-I Event after infancy and Philosophical Issues) this book will be of keen interest to philosophers infancy researchers and anyone seeking new light on the major questions of human existence.</p>