What Does The Existential-Phenomenological Approach Have To Offer The Current Understanding Of The Pre-Verbal Months Of An Infant?

Abstract

This paper looks at whether an exploration of the pre-verbal months of an infant might be better served by appealing to the arts, and more specifically to a phenomenological approach equipped to take into account the intersubjective feel of an infant’s world, than to the hitherto dominant realm of the sciences and developmental stage theory. Key words Pre-verbal infant, developmental stage theory, accommodating ambiguity, the ‘clinical infant’, mother-baby relationship, self, differentation, non-self-reflexive mirroring