by Stephen Langfur

Infancy research and philosophy explore “first things,” yet few books bring the two fields into contact. Stephen Langfur’s Philosophy Meets the Infant 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.”

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.

Philosophy Meets the Infant is available in paperback, hardcover, and eBook from Routledge , Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and others.

Cover image by Jill Sauve on Unsplash

Endorsements

“Connecting philosophy with recent infancy studies, Langfur reopens the great old questions of being and meaning. He talks about love and work, art and religion, conversation and ethics. His fresh approach had me rethinking issues that I had settled or tabled. Others may find themselves, as I did, not only reading Langfur’s book but being read by it.”

Ted L. Estess, Dean Emeritus of the Honors College at the University of Houston

“Simone Weil says that attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity; Langfur presses further, in the tradition of Buber but incorporating infancy research. He challenges us with the possibility that another person’s attention creates our sense of being. His book may well initiate a new phase of conversation about personhood, informed by both philosophy and psychology.”

W. F. “Bill” Monroe, author of Power to Hurt: The Virtues of Alienation, as well as Primary Care, a medical drama about dementia and personhood

“Philosophy Meets the Infant is a short book, yet it reads like an epic. It guides the reader through a gallery of scenes from the perspective of the infant, creating a new language as it goes along. In dialogue with philosophers and psychologists, Langfur offers a compelling, new unifying perspective on the development of self, applying it to different spheres of existence such as love, art, and religion. The concept of the You-I Event introduced here is a pivotal idea that scholars will need to engage with moving forward.”

Alessandra Fasulo, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth

“Psychology’s greatest contribution to modernity may be its affirmation of the profound significance of our earliest experiences. Yet, when it comes to the intensely intimate, subtle, and personal dynamic between caregivers and infants, experiment is not enough. A broader approach is necessary for understanding the I-you connection that grounds our relations with self, others, and world. In this work, Langfur applies the approach of continental philosophy in a way that illuminates and brings to life the field of infant studies and reversibly – philosophy itself. He places the caregiver-infant relationship at the center of philosophical discourse, giving it the status it has always deserved. This is a unique interdisciplinary endeavor that addresses a longstanding need in our culture.”

James Morley, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Ramapo College of New Jersey. Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Phenomenological Psychology

“Langfur’s Philosophy Meets the Infant draws on infancy research to approach philosophical questions that have long existed. What are the origins of self-awareness? We learn about ourselves through interactions with others. This is true in infancy and throughout our lives. Langfur takes this truth to intriguing levels.”

Ann Bigelow, Professor Emerita and Senior Research Professor in Developmental Psychology at St. Francis Xavier University