Interesting NY Times article, which does happen once in a a while. I'm inclined to remove the philosophizing, and just note the results. What it suggests, however, is that the baby's slate isn't quite as blank as we might think - in this way, and in other ways:
"Not long ago, a team of researchers watched a 1-year-old boy take justice into his own hands. The boy had just seen a puppet show in which one puppet played with a ball while interacting with two other puppets. The center puppet would slide the ball to the puppet on the right, who would pass it back. And the center puppet would slide the ball to the puppet on the left . . . who would run away with it. Then the two puppets on the ends were brought down from the stage and set before the toddler. Each was placed next to a pile of treats. At this point, the toddler was asked to take a treat away from one puppet. Like most children in this situation, the boy took it from the pile of the "naughty" one. But this punishment wasn't enough -- he then leaned over and smacked the puppet in the head."
I'd say the kid has been watching too much NCIS.
It's a well-designed and convincing experiment.
Always be skeptical of behavioral studies of animals and babies. They are notorious for not being double blind and hence exposed to the influence of the testers and participants. Be particularly skeptical of natural imitators like babies and birds, behavior does not always indicate thought.