Infant observation and research: a reply to Steven Groarke

Abstract

This paper is a response to Steven Groarke's article, ‘Understanding babies from the standpoint of experience’, published in the current issue of this journal. It argues that Groarke misrepresents the author's position, in suggesting that he assigns priority to the research functions of infant observation over its value as a method of learning, and in suggesting that his advocacy of research in this field has an extrinsic political goal. The paper argues that infant observation research can give rise to valuable findings, while acknowledging its unavoidable limitations compared with psychoanalytic research in the clinical setting. The paper welcomes the introduction of Gadamer's hermeneutic philosophy as a potentially valuable new resource in understanding infant observation, while raising some questions about its application in this context.