Isak, I remember from some seminar once that we discussed this in terms
of development. Piaget would say that a child cannot conceptually answer
the question why until concrete operations since it requires revesibility
of thought for example. Others would claim it requires metacogntion
-also tied to about age 7 emergence...in depth undertanding would
also be tied to reflective judgement which hyptohesizes development
with adolescence! So one would need to ask first, what developmental level
is the child s reasoning and then what level of "why" are you seeking,
concrete interpretations of activity or more subtle motives?
Hope this helps, Ilda Carreiro King
Boston college
kingil who-is-at bcvms.bc.edu
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