The Meaning of Infancy

The Meaning of Infancy pairs an essay by John Fiske with an address delivered at New York's Aldine Club in May 1895. Fiske argues that the long period of helplessness in human childhood helped make civilization possible. His account traces a shift in his thinking after reading Darwin and considering Wallace's suggestion that natural selection increasingly favored intelligence rather than changes in bodily structure. These are Fiske's historical evolutionary arguments, presented through explanation and personal recollection.

Editor Henry Suzzallo's introduction places the essays in an educational setting, connecting democratic society with the task of educating every child. Fiske's examples move from large questions about human development to familiar acts of learning. Piano practice illustrates his discussion of conscious effort becoming automatic; languages, walking, writing, and difficult thinking provide further comparisons. The combination gives readers interested in the history of biology and educational thought a focused view of how one nineteenth-century thinker connected extended childhood with learning and intellectual growth.