Author: Stawarska, Beata

Source: Sartre Studies International, Volume 13, Number 2, Winter 2007 , pp. 27-46(20)

Abstract:

This article discusses experimental studies of facial imitation in infants in the light of Sartre's and Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological theories of embodiment. I argue that both Sartre's account of the gaze of the other and Merleau-Ponty's account of the reversibility of the flesh provide a fertile ground for interpreting the data demonstrating that very young infants can imitate facial expressions of adults. Sartre's and Merleau-Ponty's accounts of embodiment offer, in my view, a desirable alternative to the dominant mentalistic interpretation of facial imitation in terms of the theory of mind.

Keywords: FACIAL IMITATION; THE GAZE; EMBODIMENT; PHENOMENOLOGY; THEORY OF MIND

DOI: 10.3167/ssi.2007.130202

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