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Jerome Kagan's The Nature of the Child will be of significant interest to psychoanalysts for what it is and for what it is not. It is one man's synthesis and interpretation of a good deal of important data from the burgeoning field of developmental psychology. It is not an exploration of the unfolding of inner processes in the realm of personal meaning or in the development of the mind.
Kagan is an eminent scholar and scientist. He also writes well. Reading The Nature of the Child is like attending a Harvard Lecture. One is introduced to premises, informed of a methodology, given data and led towards conclusions. At each level the material is erudite, elegant and personalized. The reader feels that he or she gets to know Kagan's style, tactics, prejudices and predilections. The author makes us aware of how scientific and cultural Zeitgeisten change. These influence the very questions which are asked in studying the nature of a child or of his development. In this regard Kagan posits that the orientations of analytic thinkers like Freud and Erikson reflect not only their personal Weltanschaugen but also the prevalent cultural ethos. Freud reflects the faith in biology of the late nineteenth century and Erikson the post World War II need for human interaction to overcome biological determinism. Thus the oral stage gives way to basic trust. Kagan introduces us to what Gerald Holton, the eminent physicist and historian of science, calls themata (1973). Each theme is defined by complementary assumptions which can neither be proven nor refuted. Familiar themata are biology v. experience, continuity v. disconnexion and discrete events, quality v. quantity and for analysis most importantly, overt behaviour v. subjective meaning.
Kagan is concerned about models for science, including the science of human development. He persuasively argues for a 'biological' rather than a 'mathematical' approach to psychology and in so doing advances what is to become his princ