Decisional Versus Performative Capacities: Not Exactly a New Idea

摘要

As I write this commentary, I am flying at 35,000 feet over the mid-section of the country. Next to me sit a woman and her 4-year-old daughter, the girl evidently fatigued by her cross-country trip.To keep her cheerful—and avoid the ire of our fellow passengers—the obviously devoted mother has been engaging the young girl in a series of word games, drawing activities, and bead-stringing exercises, and has just broken out a set of miniature figurines that could only be princesses. Suddenly and spontaneously, she turns to me and says, “You know, I studied child development in college. But it’s a whole different thing knowing what to do and actually doing it.”