New insights into the early development of the brain and the emergence of consciousness challenge many of our preconceptions about the connection between body and mind. This book explores the implications of this knowledge, revealing how a fundamental ethic is inherently embodied in each of us before any words are formed.

The examination of the primacy of ethics in this book reveals that ethics precedes not only all words but also establishes the necessary foundation for the thinking subject. As thinking and acting humans, we exist within an interpersonal context, and basic ethics emerge through interactions with others. The book illustrates how narratives bind us together, correcting and supplementing a rational language that, when used unilaterally, can create distance and even work against its intended purpose.