Core knowledge, language learning, and the origins of morality and pedagogy: Reply to reviews of What babies know

Abstract

The astute reviews by Hamlin and by Revencu and Csibra provide compelling arguments and evidence for the early emergence of moral evaluation, communication, and pedagogical learning. I accept these conclusions but not the reviewers' claims that infants' talents in these domains depend on core systems of moral evaluation or pedagogical communication. Instead, I suggest that core knowledge of people as agents and as social beings, together with infants' emerging understanding of their native language, support learning about people as moral agents, moral patients, communicators, and teachers. These issues are open, however, and our competing views invite further testing.