This thesis investigates the canonical, western philosophical way of thinking about human origin. It claims that this traditional understanding of origin is focussed on birth: a moment that a new...Show moreThis thesis investigates the canonical, western philosophical way of thinking about human origin. It claims that this traditional understanding of origin is focussed on birth: a moment that a new person originates from the darkness, into the light. This instigates an image of human origin as one of separation, an image that is contradicted by the phenomenological acounts of the people that have actually enjoyed or endured this process of human origination in the midst of their very own bodies: pregnant women. Their accounts paint a very different picture of the start of human life. This thesis investigates this structurally overlooked perspective on origin, and will answer the question as to what and in which way the traditional, canonical philosophical realm benefits in accuracy and richness from a serious consideration of the phenomenological experience of pregnancy. Ultimately, we move from an understanding of human origin as a clearly defined moment of separation, to a continuum of becoming, marked by an ambiguous relationality.Show less
Introduction. Smoking during pregnancy poses a risk for negative developmental outcomes, e.g. aggression. This study focuses on the relation between smoking during pregnancy and aggressiveness of...Show moreIntroduction. Smoking during pregnancy poses a risk for negative developmental outcomes, e.g. aggression. This study focuses on the relation between smoking during pregnancy and aggressiveness of 12-months-old infants. Three groups were compared: infants of mothers who smoked during the whole pregnancy, infants of mothers who smoked until they knew they were pregnant and infants of mothers who did not smoke during their pregnancy. Also a high risk group and low risk group were compared. Methods. 56 mothers (M = 21.95 years, SD = 2.57) and their children, 26 boys (M = 12.56 months, SD = .49) and 30 girls (M = 12.52 months, SD = .43), participated. Smoking during pregnancy is measured by the Dutch translation of the Becoming a Mother questionnaire at the 27th week of pregnancy. Aggression is measured by the Cardiff Infant Contentiousness Scale and Physical Aggression Scale for Early Childhood at the infant age of 12 months. Results. No significant difference in aggressiveness between infants in the three maternal smoking groups was found. In addition, the average levels of aggressive behavior of 12-months-old infants whose mothers smoked until they knew they were pregnant did not differ significantly between the high risk group and the low risk group. Conclusion. In this study, no relation between smoking during pregnancy and aggressive behavior of 12-month-old infants is found. Furthermore, the high risk and low risk group were not associated with different levels of aggressiveness of 12-month-olds.Show less
