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Abstract
Willem Koops has highlighted the contrast between the discontinuity hypothesis and the change hypothesis in representations of childhood in Western history. I argue that this contrast has also shaped scholarly representations of child development, whether pre-scientific or scientific. The remainder of the paper is devoted to an analysis of the role played by language in the development of a theory of mind (limited here to belief representation). I offer conceptual arguments in favour of a pragmatic-conversational hypothesis and describe its operationalization. The paper concludes by stressing the current importance of a cultural-historical developmental perspective in the context of the change hypothesis.