什么是成年人?
John Perry

07 April 2011

什么是成年人?

Suppose I say an adult is someone who's 18 years or older, unless the issue is drinking legally, in which case an adult is someone 21 years or older. That’s a start. But we’re not so much interested in legal definitions, as changing conceptions, of what an adult is. You could argue that unless we know what an adult is, we don’t really know what a person is or what a human being is.

亚里士多德说，要知道一件事是什么，就必须知道它的最终原因是什么。举个例子，我可以给你看一个开瓶器，一块木头，上面有一根螺旋状的电线。我会解释说这是用来移开酒瓶的软木塞的。这就是设计和创造它的目的。对亚里士多德来说，这就是终极原因。

The Final Cause of a living organism is the function that organism normally performs when it reaches maturity. The form or structure it develops through childhood should help it to perform these functions well when it reaches maturity. To understand what humans are, we need to understand what it is we expect fully developed, adult humans to be like. Which for Aristotle meant creating and raising the next generation, contributing to the economy, safety, and governance of the community and, if you were fortunate, doing philosophy.

This raises the question, who gets to say what an adult is supposed to be like? God? Whose God? Reason? Economists? Philosophers? The Liberal Media? Rush Limbaugh? Aristotle?

Even if we can’t answer that question, ifwe want to understand what a given society thinks humans are all about, then一个好的起点是社会对成人的看法。因此我们的话题是:什么是成年人。也就是说，我们社会对成年人的概念是什么，它是如何变化的?

Well in that case, it seems our societymustha an evolving conception of human nature, because our concept of adulthood sure is changing. I was raised to think you got a job, fell in love, got married, and had children, became part of a community, and started paying taxes big time, all in your early twenties, and roughly in that order. That’s what adults do, with exceptions here and there, of course. But people in their twenties don’t do that so much anymore. They bind together in urban tribes, like onSeinfeld, orFriends.

Are people becoming adults later? Or have we changed what counts as being an adult? Have we forgotten what human life is all about? Or have we just changed the rules for making it happen? Have we discovered new patterns of growing up, or forgotten what it is to grow up?

Today’s guest, Ethan Waters, has written a lot about these topics, including a book called城市部落:重新定义友谊、家庭和承诺的一代人。


Photo byDESIGNECOLOGISTonUnsplash

Comments(8)

Guest's picture

Guest

Friday, April 8, 2011 -- 5:00 PM

I have argued for some time that the American Drea

我曾经说过，20世纪50年代及以后的美国梦范式只是一种心理策略——一种引导民众进入经济/工业思维和行为的方式，这将最好地确保西方文明的持续进步。不管有没有集中在这些目标上的意图，它都起作用了，不是吗?有点像有组织的宗教?
There has been a rebellion, of sorts, among younger (and sometimes older)citizens. This little blip is due to our free-form information age and associated aspects of popular culture. I suspect it will undergo what economists call a 'correction', sooner than later. But, I am just another armchair anthropologist, so we shall see. Right now, though, there is a tendency for people to avoid adulthood for as long as they can. This does not mean they do not wish to make money somehow. They would just rather not be chained to an occupation. Can't say as I blame them.

Guest's picture

Guest

Saturday, April 9, 2011 -- 5:00 PM

AGE TAXONOMY When my wife says she is ?getting

AGE TAXONOMY
When my wife says she is ?getting old,? I tell her 1. this is not a descriptive term, and 2. it is therefore an unproductive (actually, harmful) way of thinking. If you have a problem, you have that problem; connecting the problem to inevitability is counter-therapeutic. (Isn?t it great being philosophical?!)
同样的，也没有必要使用?adult?作为分类学，除法律或医疗目的需要外。法家的各种学说，其性质必须是普遍适用的，因为它们必须适用于许多人。
Age is a continuum and different stages of identifiable development overlap and happen at different times, in different people. As a result, there is no need (other than legalistic) to specify when these stages ?are supposed to? happen. For example, a person becomes a good driver (or doesn?t) or a responsible drinker (or doesn?t), regardless of age. Speaking about ?adolescence? or ?adulthood? as these refer to decisions to marry, for instance, is erroneous and useless (even harmful) taxonomy.

Guest's picture

Guest

Sunday, April 10, 2011 -- 5:00 PM

我的大儿子19岁。He is in the Alabama Army National

我的大儿子19岁。他是阿拉巴马州国民警卫队的一员。
I suppose his final cause is to kill another person...as long as
he doesn't have a bud light in his hand.

Harold G. Neuman's picture

Harold G. Neuman

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 -- 5:00 PM

An adult knows when to get out of a bad situation.

An adult knows when to get out of a bad situation. He may not have the means (emotional, psychological or economic) to do so, but he at least KNOWS. An advanced adult knew when to AVOID a bad situation, and therefore, never got there in the first place. Those who wisely 'sat out' debacles such as Viet Nam, Somalia and Iraq are/were advanced adults and give us some hope for the extended phenotypes proposed by Richard Dawkins in his excellent book.
Now, things like patriotism are all well and good and have their place. But Viet Nam, Somalia and Iraq had nothing to do with patriotism. We should just get over that and decide to be advanced adults.How hard can it be?

Harold G. Neuman's picture

Harold G. Neuman

Friday, April 15, 2011 -- 5:00 PM

Adulthood is whenever we deem it to be expedient a

Adulthood is whenever we deem it to be expedient and in the interests of society, generally, or some parochial agenda, specifically. Par exemple, there are child soldiers fighting in countries where many of the adults have been killed off or are too old and infirm to do the dirty work of war. Ordinarily, WE frown upon such policies and would rather our soldiers be at least eighteen years of age. But, as we know from our family histories, there were exceptions in both world wars.
The matter of becoming an adult is, then, situational. We might say, sociological. When I worked in a public sector job, an associate-friend acted as hearing officer for the administrative adjudication of certain disputes. Our running in-joke went something like this:
I would ask him questions about the facts presented in a particular case and what he thought of the positions asserted by both sides. He would elaborate briefly and if I was uncertain of where he was going with his decision, I would ask: but what is the law? He would reply: whatever the hell I say it is!
And just so. What is adulthood? It is whatever we say it is, at a given time and place and under the relevant circumstances.

Guest's picture

Guest

Monday, April 18, 2011 -- 5:00 PM

Being an adult means taking personal responsibilit

作为一个成年人意味着要为自己的言行负责。但这也意味着要为这些言行承担后果。你听过多少次有人说:我对所发生的一切负全部责任?这听起来不错，但你知道它反应迟钝，因为它的意思是:我搞砸了，或者被抓住了。很抱歉。
没有悔悟——这只是暗示，只是为了“挽回面子”，世界上有些人就是这么认为的。后果?Nil。道歉，即使是错误地提出，也是一种强大的东西。有权势的人每天都会“承担责任”，不会有任何后果发生在他们身上。事实证明，承担责任，就像用手推车拉烟。
我被汽车行业最近的广告逗乐了。有摄像头防止我们在倒车时碾过不应该碾过的物体。小孩子似乎总是碍手碍脚，相信我们能保证他们的安全。但是我们太忙了，太匆忙了。那就装个后视镜确保阿什莉或杰迪戴亚不会被压扁。也许这是个好主意。减少个人责任的需要。让电脑来做吧。
And there is the other one which keeps you from falling asleep at the wheel or stops your car if you do. These technologies remind me of The Jetsons---but not in a feel good way. Come on now. We are adults, aren't we? Or is it just too much work?

Guest's picture

Guest

Wednesday, April 27, 2011 -- 5:00 PM

Response to christ myth's exhortation(s) concernin

Response to christ myth's exhortation(s) concerning Jesus Potter Harry Christ: The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins is, perhaps less popularly cultural. but certainly well argued and articulately expressed. No matter how you wrap it, religion is, in its final reality, a matter of faith. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. But it still causes more trouble than it is worth. I think this is what Dawkins tries to show---successfully for this pilgrim.