Scan barcode
beththebookdragon's review against another edition
3.0
A fascinating topic: what do babies and young children think, how do their thought processes work, and what have we learned about how they learn? The author covers numerous topics and research studies thoroughly, but her writing style is not very engaging for the most part. Still, a good "read" that turns some past wisdom and theories about young children's thought process upside-down.
koby's review
5.0
"Children are not just our future because they carry our genes. For human beings, in particular, our sense of who we are, both as individuals and as a group, is intimately tied to where we come from and where we're going, to our past and our future. The human capacity for change means that we can't figure out what it is to be human just by looking at the way we are now. We need instead to peer forward into the vast ramifying space of human possibilities. The explorers we see out there at the farthest edge look very much like our children."
I found this book really interesting. It's not so much a book about parenting. Instead it's a book about how" children can help solve some deep and ancient philosophical questions. " Definitely food for thought. I have been returning to its ideas over and over again since I have finished it and have been able to apply them not only to my child, but to myself, my profession, and society in general.
I found this book really interesting. It's not so much a book about parenting. Instead it's a book about how" children can help solve some deep and ancient philosophical questions. " Definitely food for thought. I have been returning to its ideas over and over again since I have finished it and have been able to apply them not only to my child, but to myself, my profession, and society in general.
laurenpressley's review
3.0
I wanted to read this book because of my background in philosophy and my own little one. And this is a really interesting book, just not a philosophical one. The book is mostly filled with anecdotes and explanations of studies that show how babies think. I would say it's more a psychology of babies or the science of babies' cognition rather than philosophy. And it makes sense, (after reading it I found out) the author is a psychologists. Gopnik does throw around some philosophical concepts, names of philosophers, and some theological ideas, but she does it in the way that non-philosophers often do.
All of that aside, the studies she described were really facinating and left me interested in finding the actual articles describing the work in greater detail. Really interesting stuff and put in a way that even a sleep-deprived mom can follow. :)
All of that aside, the studies she described were really facinating and left me interested in finding the actual articles describing the work in greater detail. Really interesting stuff and put in a way that even a sleep-deprived mom can follow. :)
kiramekihoshi's review against another edition
4.0
I love the way Gopnik's mind works. She asks wonderful questions and then responds in thoughtful, rational answers. I also adore the way she summarizes each section--so helpful!
The Philosophical Baby explores the mind of children, newborn and up, by collecting, examining, and refuting previous theories and then offering new ones.
The Philosophical Baby explores the mind of children, newborn and up, by collecting, examining, and refuting previous theories and then offering new ones.
ursulamonarch's review
2.0
I found this book really frustrating. For every new-to-me facet of childhood development, there were five facts that I'd heard many times. I don't expect an author to perfectly calibrate a book to my background, but somehow this feeling was more prevalent than in any other piece of non-fiction I can remember. Additionally, having a two-year-old around makes one question the conclusions of some of the studies, the same way studies of any humans make generalized conclusions about populations rather than individuals and aren't universally applicable - which is fine, but it just called out that the conclusions can be overreaching.
aerdna's review
4.0
This was a really enjoyable read. It is really a child development book framed at the intersection of science and philosophy, which is a unique take and also one that resonates with me personally as a scientist and someone who likes to reflect deeply on any big project I undertake. I have a feeling pretty soon I will not have the time to do much reflection (t minus 2 weeks till due date!) so it was great to have this time now. (Which, coincidentally, is one of my fears about this young and acute phase of parenting- I will miss the time to have a leisurely read and ponder about deeper meanings.)
The majority of the studies I had encountered before in other settings or the child development book I've been slowly picking my way through, but the additional engaging discussion of the implications of the results in a larger sense was really nice. The thoughts were organized into a few main ideas:
1) how our extended childhood, almost unprecedented in the animal world, and its associated period of unfettered play and pretend allows us to construct counterfactual worlds that develop our adult abilities to be able to change the world and imagine new possibilities.
2) how fiction of all types, starting with the imaginary friends of childhood, is crucially important for us to create causal theories of the mind.
3) how babies are essentially tiny little Bayesian statisticians in the way that they learn. I found this particularly interesting given how the central thesis of books like [b:Thinking, Fast and Slow|11468377|Thinking, Fast and Slow|Daniel Kahneman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1317793965l/11468377._SX50_.jpg|16402639] are about how terrible adults are at statistical thinking.
4) reflections on what babies tell us about the nature of consciousness. Gopnik argues that it is likely that babies with their lack of ability to focus their attention are closest to the state that adults are in when they are in meditation or actively traveling through an exotic land. No wonder they get grumpy at the end of a long day of this type of "lantern consciousness."
5) Related to the last, what is consciousness? We think of ourselves as an "I," a little person sitting inside our heads that watches and assimilates everything we do into a coherent story of our lives. But it is clear from studies that children do not think this way until they are older. They might have some piece of knowledge (i.e. that box that they found is filled with pencils and not candy), but they can't necessarily remember how they know that (i.e. did they open the box themselves or did someone else tell them?). In other words, episodic memory is not an important part of the consciousness of young children.
6) a revisiting of the nature vs. nurture debate with the obvious but interestingly researched conclusion that you can't talk about one without the other.
7) an exploration of attachment theory. A tidbit I found particularly interesting here is that different attachment styles tend to predominate in different cultures- for example, avoidant attachment is most common in Germany, while anxious attachment is most common in Japan. This of course has some implications for my current situation and caused me to reflect on the different ways affection is shown in different countries.
All in all, a thought provoking read. If you are already familiar with the basics of child development theories, you won't learn a ton of new things, but I still enjoyed the discussion around each concept.
The majority of the studies I had encountered before in other settings or the child development book I've been slowly picking my way through, but the additional engaging discussion of the implications of the results in a larger sense was really nice. The thoughts were organized into a few main ideas:
1) how our extended childhood, almost unprecedented in the animal world, and its associated period of unfettered play and pretend allows us to construct counterfactual worlds that develop our adult abilities to be able to change the world and imagine new possibilities.
2) how fiction of all types, starting with the imaginary friends of childhood, is crucially important for us to create causal theories of the mind.
3) how babies are essentially tiny little Bayesian statisticians in the way that they learn. I found this particularly interesting given how the central thesis of books like [b:Thinking, Fast and Slow|11468377|Thinking, Fast and Slow|Daniel Kahneman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1317793965l/11468377._SX50_.jpg|16402639] are about how terrible adults are at statistical thinking.
4) reflections on what babies tell us about the nature of consciousness. Gopnik argues that it is likely that babies with their lack of ability to focus their attention are closest to the state that adults are in when they are in meditation or actively traveling through an exotic land. No wonder they get grumpy at the end of a long day of this type of "lantern consciousness."
5) Related to the last, what is consciousness? We think of ourselves as an "I," a little person sitting inside our heads that watches and assimilates everything we do into a coherent story of our lives. But it is clear from studies that children do not think this way until they are older. They might have some piece of knowledge (i.e. that box that they found is filled with pencils and not candy), but they can't necessarily remember how they know that (i.e. did they open the box themselves or did someone else tell them?). In other words, episodic memory is not an important part of the consciousness of young children.
6) a revisiting of the nature vs. nurture debate with the obvious but interestingly researched conclusion that you can't talk about one without the other.
7) an exploration of attachment theory. A tidbit I found particularly interesting here is that different attachment styles tend to predominate in different cultures- for example, avoidant attachment is most common in Germany, while anxious attachment is most common in Japan. This of course has some implications for my current situation and caused me to reflect on the different ways affection is shown in different countries.
All in all, a thought provoking read. If you are already familiar with the basics of child development theories, you won't learn a ton of new things, but I still enjoyed the discussion around each concept.
sarahwojcik's review
4.0
A delightful philosophy book that is all the more compelling if you're a parent or have a special tiny person in your life. I'm amazed by just how much my little guy can understand and how quickly he'll learn new things about this world that he's entered only six months ago. Discovering that deep in his bones are beautiful moral imperatives has been more moving than I ever anticipated. Reading this book now -- as the love for my son is just growing every day -- was an incredible reminder of how the deep, stirring love that a caregiver feels for a baby and that baby for a caregiver is part of what can provide our life with so much richness and meaning.
More...