Cognitive science, until recently, has neglected affectivity and subjectivity which is partly due to dualistic conceptions of the cognizing subject. The present work aims to further expand the scope of the mind sciences with a phenomenological treatment of affectivity. More specifically, it discusses Daniel Stern's notion of vitality affects (1985), employing an interdisciplinary approach with an emphasis on ontogenetic perspectives. Formulating a critique on the current stance of embodied

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... , it is argued that they presuppose a dualist ontology, hence the "embodied" notion of affectivity lacks phenomenological depth and accuracy. Instead, the enactive approach is advocated that puts affectivity on central stage in explaining the "deep continuity of life and mind" (Thompson 2007 p. ix). Following Thompson and Sheets-Johnstone (2011b), I ground the concept of the body in the life–mind continuum, then following Aristotle and Colombetti (2014), I ground affectivity in the body–life–world continuum. Stern's model of the early organisation of the self helps to gain a more refined understanding of the developmental and clinical aspects of those cultural splits between body and mind that appear as a result of the Cartesian dualism. Along this developmental model focusing on vitality affects, two major ontogenetic events are identified in the infant's experience which I call body-mind splits – where an objectification of the self occurs. Describing the phenomenological nature of the splits, Ratcliffe's & Colombetti's taxonomy of bodily feelings is adopted (2012). In identifying the splits in the infants' experience, I connect Stern's theory with phenomenology (Husserl 1960; Merleau-Ponty 2010b; Vermes 2006), psychoanalytic views (Lacan 2001), and enactivism (Thompson 2007). My hope is that this thesis is a step towards a mutually informed discussion on the fundamental role of vitality affects in intersubjectivity between enactive cognitive science, phenomenology, affective science, as well as developmental psychol [...]