-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The idea of an individual baby discovering the world as like the activity of science is basically the error in the positivist model of the scientific process... CB ----------
Science proper is of course a collective activity, maybe one of the most collective of all. On the other hand nobody can teach a baby to walk, nobody teaches them to talk.
^^^^^ CB: I disagree, respectfully. On this score, babies , like other primates and mammals, learn by imitation (Monkey see ; monkey do), especially on talking ( and singing; smile).
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They do those on their own. Where I think the collective or social body comes into play is the child's overwhelming need to be within that embrace. That's the motivation that drives much of the learning and figuring out.
So then all the touching and handling and the speech parents do is the social body that in turn creates the universe within which walking and talking occur. Even so, the baby has to perform by themselves.
CG