Abstract
Developmental and clinical psychological findings on infancy over the past twenty years and more refute in striking ways both Piaget's and Lacan's negative characterizations of infants. Piaget's thesis is that the infant has an undifferentiated sense of self; Lacan's thesis is that the infant is no more than a fragmented piece of goods — a corps morcelé. Through an examination of recent and notable analyses of infancy by infant psychiatrist Daniel Stern, this paper highlights important features within the radically different accounts. In particular, it examines Stern's account of self-agency —a facet of “the core self.” In doing so, the paper brings to light corporeal matters of fact and shows :how recent developmental-clinical data on infants accord with facets of bodily life described by Husserl. The paper contrasts these corporeal matters of fact and facets of bodily life with Piaget's and Lacan's notion of an infant as incompetent and deficient. On the basis of its empirical-phenomenological findings, the paper underscores the need to recognize the richness of nonverbal life and to give movement and the tactile-kinesthetic body their conceptual due.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Butterworth, G. (1983). Structure of the mind in human infancy. In L.P. Lipsitt and C.K. Rovee-Collier (Eds.) Advances in infancy research, vol. 2. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Goodall, J. (1968). The behaviour of free-living chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream Reserve. Animal behaviour monographs, vol. 1, pt. 3: 165–311.
Goodall, J. (1990). Through a window. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Husserl, E. (1981). The origin of geometry (trans. David Carr.) In P. McCormick and F.A. Elliston (Eds.), Husserl: Shorter works, pp. 251–270. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Lacan, J. (1977; 1966). The mirror stage as formative of the function of the I as revealed in psychoanalytic experience. In J. Lacan, Écrits: A selection (trans. Alan Sheridan), pp. 1–7. New York: W W. Norton; Ecrits, pp. 93–100. Paris: Editions du Seuil.
Lacan, J. (1977; 1966). Agressivity in psychoanalysis. In J. Lacan, Ecrits: A selection, pp. 8–29; Ecrits, pp. 101–124.
Lacan, J. (1977; 1966). The subversion of the subject and the dialectic of desire in the Freudian unconscious. In J. Lacan, Écrits: A selection, pp. 292–325; Écrits, pp. 793–827.
Lacan, J. (1977; 1966). The function and field of speech and language in psychoanalysis. In J. Lacan, Écrits: A selection, pp. 30–113; Écrits, pp. 237–322.
Lacan, J. (1978). Four fundamental concepts of psycho-analysis, ed. Jacques-Alain Miller, (trans. Alan Sheridan). New York: W.W. Norton.
Meltzoff, Andrew N. and Moore, M. Keith. (1983). Newborn infants imitate adult facial gestures. Child Development 54: 702–709.
Piaget, J. (1950). The psychology of intelligence (trans. Malcolm Piercy and D.E. Berlyne). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Piaget, J. (1954). The constitution of reality in the child (trans. Margaret Cook). New York: Basic Books.
Piaget, J. (1968). La naissance de l'intelligence chez l'enfant. 6th ed. Neuchatel: Delachaux et Nestlé.
Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children (trans. Margaret Cook). New York: International Universities Press.
Sheets-Johnstone, M. (1990). The roots of thinking. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Sheets-Johnstone, M. (Ed.) (1992). Giving the body its due. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Sheets-Johnstone, M. (1994). The roots of power: Animate form and gendered bodies. Chicago: Open Court.
Smillie, D. (1971). Phenomenology and Social Existence. Philosophy and phenomenological research 31: 64–77.
Stern, D.N. (1985). The interpersonal world of the infant. New York: Basic Books.
Stem, D.N. (1990). Diary of a baby. New York: Basic Books.
von Helmholtz, H. (1912[1881]). The perception of sight. In Popular lectures on scientific subjects, vol. 1 (trans. E. Atkinson). New York: Longmans, Green, and Co.
von Helmholtz, H. (1971 [1878]). The facts of perception. In R. Kahl (Ed.) Selected writings of Hermann von Helmholtz. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University.
Wolff, P.H. (1966). The causes, controls and organization of behavior in the neonate. Psychological Issues, 5: 17.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sheets-Johnstone, M. An empirical-phenomenological critique of the social construction of infancy. Hum Stud 19, 1–16 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00142853
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00142853