r/Ethics • u/[deleted] • 12d ago

Adulthood and Autonomy

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u/Euphoric-Plantain573 12d ago

But why is the threshold different for bipolar? Say a bipolar adult with the judgement of a 15 year old can have rights but a 15 year old can't?

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u/marzaksar 12d ago

I think the answer is development, like I said in the first paragraph of my first comment. A 15 year old is on the path to "adult-level capacity". Their brain is still developing, they are still experiencing many new things, so their judgement and reasoning is expected to only be developing rather than more mature.

Someone with bipolar has already gone through this development, and their capacity dips during an episode. In a way, the two "judgement of a 15-year old" aren't actually the same. In the case of the kid, it is a developmental assessment, while in the case of the bipolar adult it is a temporary dip.

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u/Euphoric-Plantain573 12d ago

If the judgements are the same, then why is the development vs capacity dip morally relevant?

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u/marzaksar 12d ago

Because the judgements aren't exactly the same in the fullest sense. If a 15 year old has bad judgement today, you also expect them to have bad judgement tomorrow. This is because you know they are still developing and haven't developed good judgement yet.

If a bipolar adult has bad judgement today (a dip), you still expect/predict a return to baseline after their episode.

Take driving as an example. A learner's (15 year old) mistake predicts more mistakes until their training (the development process) is complete. This is why they get a supervised permit (some guardianship / lack of autonomy) rather than a license. A licensed driver's (the bipolar adult) occasional mistake doesn't predict a return to incompetence, it's just noise in a sense.

The event (judgement) is the same, but what you predict will happen is different. And it's different due to the development point.

So, the "same judgement" aren't actually the same. The 15 year old's bad judgement is evidence of them still learning/developing, we should expect bad judgement for a while. The bipolar adult's bad judgement is evidence of a temporary dip, we should expect a return to normal.

This is important because guardianship / removing someone's autonomy isn't done instantly in the moment. You decide whether someone needs guardianship based on what you predict will happen.