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The view of imitation has evolved from the eighteenth century to the present day. Seen sometimes in a positive light (Condillac, Baldwin, Tarde, Alain, Vygotsky, Wallon, Bruner, Bandura), sometimes ambivalently (Darwin, Piaget), and sometimes negatively (Buffon, Kant, Durkheim), it has been the subject of heated debate. These discussions are inseparable from the philosophical and psychological questions raised in different eras regarding the social, emotional, and intellectual development of the individual: How much is cultural and how much is biological? How do children’s intellectual and motor skills develop? Analysis of these debates shows that the definition of imitation depends significantly on the general theoretical framework within which it is situated. Our study aims to highlight four decisive epistemological breaks: 1) an anthropological break; 2) a psychological break; 3) a sociological break (Tarde, Durkheim, Mead, Bourdieu), leading to methodological advances; and 4) a break concerning the analysis of cognitive processes. In our view, these different breaks represent crucial conceptual turning points leading—from Condillac to Rizzolatti, via Darwin and Piaget—to different conceptions of imitation and its role in theories of development and learning.