For instance: age of sexual consent, age for legally drinking alcohol, age for driving, age for voting, age for participating in pornography

Depending on the place, each of those requires a different minimum age. Why is that? Are some activities “more adult” than others? Using USA as an example: legal drinking age is 21, legal driving age is 16, age of consent varies between 16-18.

Not asking about different countries/states having different ages, but any single place having different ages for different adult activities

  • fubo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Yep. But also, fake first-principles explanations are commonly offered when people ask “Why is the rule thus-and-so?”

    “Why can’t I vote yet? (or: marry, buy a gun, etc.)?”
    “You’re not old enough.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because 18-year-olds are just more mature than 15-year-olds.”
    “Why? Who says?”
    “Um. The Constitution!”
    “But it used to say something different.”
    “Yep. We know better now.”
    “Says who?”
    “Democracy!”

    The 15-year-old correctly assesses that these are not real explanations, but rather rationalizations of a rule that was decided not from first principles, but rather through people in history arguing over it, sometimes protesting or even fighting, and changing the rules.