The “Single Consciousness-and-‘I’” of the Child at Different Ages

Abstract

In elaborating their thesis that the subjective being of a person should be regarded as “a single consciousness-and-‘I’” or as “a single reality of consciousness” “from childhood to old age,” Witz and Goodwin based themselves only on their experience in qualitative research with adults (with the consciousness-and-“I” of participants who were adults aged 12 to 60 or so). The bulk of the present article first argues that the fundamental characteristics of the single consciousness-and-“I” in adults (“Foreshadowing the future,” “Consciousness-and-‘I’ distilling in innumerable ‘I-feelings’ throughout the day,” and “Taking for granted one is always the same person”) exist already but take different forms at every age in childhood and that these forms merge into the conscious-and-“I” in the adult. The final portion of the article then discusses how one can in principle go about getting an idea of the consciousness-and-“I” of a child at a particular age.