PS1004 – The Mind Through the Eyes of a Child 26/10/18
‘our’ view of children – historical perspectives on childhood
- Jesuits c 1550 prioritised early childhood up until the age of 7
o ‘give me the child until he is 7 and I will show you the man’
- Van den Bergh (1956/61) metabletics
o Looking historically that children from other historical epochs are essentially
different from children today
- Montaigne’s advice (1580)
o Confront the child with philosophical discourses…from the moment it is weaned
Problem = timing of weaning a child is different around the world
- Locke (1693)
o The understand (reason) as early as they do language…they like to be treated as
rational creatures
- J.B. Watson (1930)
o Idea that if given a healthy child and forming his/her environment, Watson would
be able to make him any type of specialist he chooses – doctor, lawyer, artist, even
a beggar-man, or thief regardless of talent, penchants, tendencies, abilities and race
Going beyond his facts
- Philippe Ariès (1962)
o Centuries of childhood
o Argued that ‘childhood’ was a social construction and not generally recognised as
‘special’ until 16th/17th centuries
o “in medieval society, the idea of childhood did not exist.”
o Evidence
Pictures of children
Contemporary accounts/practices
Analysis of the condition of children from our current perspective
-
‘our’ view of children – historical perspectives on childhood
- Jesuits c 1550 prioritised early childhood up until the age of 7
o ‘give me the child until he is 7 and I will show you the man’
- Van den Bergh (1956/61) metabletics
o Looking historically that children from other historical epochs are essentially
different from children today
- Montaigne’s advice (1580)
o Confront the child with philosophical discourses…from the moment it is weaned
Problem = timing of weaning a child is different around the world
- Locke (1693)
o The understand (reason) as early as they do language…they like to be treated as
rational creatures
- J.B. Watson (1930)
o Idea that if given a healthy child and forming his/her environment, Watson would
be able to make him any type of specialist he chooses – doctor, lawyer, artist, even
a beggar-man, or thief regardless of talent, penchants, tendencies, abilities and race
Going beyond his facts
- Philippe Ariès (1962)
o Centuries of childhood
o Argued that ‘childhood’ was a social construction and not generally recognised as
‘special’ until 16th/17th centuries
o “in medieval society, the idea of childhood did not exist.”
o Evidence
Pictures of children
Contemporary accounts/practices
Analysis of the condition of children from our current perspective
-
