A loving childhood reliably produces lifelong even-tempered self-possession

Evidence

Merleau-Ponty was just over two months older than Beauvoir, born on 14 March 1908, and much more at ease with himself. He sailed through social situations with a relaxed self-possession which (as he himself thought) was probably the result of having had a very happy childhood. He had felt so loved and encouraged as a child, he said, never having to work hard for approval, that his disposition remained cheerful for life. He could be irritable sometimes, but he was, as he said in a radio interview in 1959, almost always at peace with himself. This makes him about the only person in this entire story who felt that way; a valuable gift. Sartre would later write, apropos Flaubert’s lack of love in childhood, that when love ‘is present, the dough of the spirits rises, when absent, it sinks’. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 367

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Sartre’s later thought on childhood love shaping temperament, and contrasts with Beauvoir’s own strained maternal relationship — groundwork for understanding the different philosophers’ dispositions. — connects to: A child’s autonomy depends on parental love given without reciprocation — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 658; A permissive, secure childhood produces tolerant personalities, harsh discipline authoritarian ones; Authentic love requires the beloved to help one go beyond infantile fantasies — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 164
• SHARE: The ‘dough of the spirits’ line from Sartre about Flaubert is a lovely compressed formulation worth sending to anyone interested in Sartre or developmental psychology.

Broader Connections

• Authentic love requires the beloved to help one go beyond infantile fantasies #qualifies (0.80) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 164
• A child’s autonomy depends on parental love given without reciprocation #qualifies (0.78) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 658
• A permissive, secure childhood produces tolerant personalities, harsh discipline authoritarian ones #corroborates (0.75)