The Child as Natural Phenomenologist: Primal and Primary Experience in Merleau-Ponty's Psychology (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy) - Tapa blanda

"This book is an informative, valuable and thought-provoking contribution to the Merleau-Ponty's interdisciplinary work on child psychology. Scholarly and comprehensive...this present volume deserves to be welcomed and studied carefully by students and scholars in embodiment theory, Gestalt psychology, phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and by anyone interested in the philosophical relevance of early childhood for the constitution of an individual's subjectivity." --Horizon

Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) is well known for his work in phenomenology, but his lectures in child psychology and pedagogy have received little attention, probably because Talia Welsh translated the lectures in their entirety only in 2010. The Child as Natural Phenomenologist summarises Merleau-Ponty's work in child psychology, shows its relationship to his philosophical work, and argues for its continued relevance in contemporary theory and practice. Welsh demonstrates Merleau-Ponty's unique conception of the child's development as inherently organised, meaningful, and engaged with the world, contrary to views that see the child as largely internally preoccupied and driven by instinctual demands. Welsh finds that Merleau-Ponty's ideas about human psychology remain relevant in today's growing field of child studies and that they provide important insights for philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists to better understand the human condition.