Alison Gopnik: 'The Philosophical Baby'

10/01/2009 at 8:00 p.m.

What can babies teach grownups? Just 30 years ago, conventional wisdom was: "not much." Infants were thought of as babbling, irrational, half–baked adults. But Alison Gopnik says babies' minds have incredible depth. Gopnik is a professor of psychology at University of California, Berkeley, with decades of experience in childhood learning and development. She says by studying babies in their own language, we can answer questions about human nature that continue to stump adults. Gopnik's latest book is "The Philosophical Baby: What Children's Minds Tell Us About Truth, Love and the Meaning of Life." She spoke at Seattle's Town Hall on September 9, 2009.