(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level; "he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children"
The history of the individual development of an organism; the history of the evolution of the germ; the development of an individual organism, in distinction from phylogeny, or evolution of the tribe
The physical, cultural, moral, or intellectual development of each individual passes through stages similar to the developmental stages of that individual's species, society, or civilization
For even if we accept that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, those responsible for the drafting of ancient legal documents were not children, and are hardly to be endowed with some form of infantile mentality.