The Learning Brain (2013) – Notes – Ch.3

A separate return to The Learning Brain (2013) – Notes.

Our author points to how a brain matures by age 25. (Nonetheless, Hertz the car rental company as at 2017 “rents cars to those 20 years old and up.*”). The additional requirements are:

• *… there is an added surcharge under some circumstances for renters between 20 and 24 years old. This added fee is subject to change based on the type and location of the car rental.
• *Renters under 25 years old are subject to Age Differential Charge. Charge varies based on car class and renting location. Car class restrictions apply. Excludes certain corporate accounts. Excludes rentals in Australia, minimum age is 21. Additional terms and conditions apply, see Rental Terms for details.

See UNDER 25 CAR RENTAL | AVAILABLE AT HERTZ (2017). https://www.hertz.com.sg/rentacar/misc/index.jsp?targetPage=Hertz_Renting_to_Drivers_Under_25.jsp.

The minimum age for taxi drivers in Singapore is 30. [Minimum age of private-hire car drivers in the spotlight after fatal Uber accident. (13 Jul 2017). http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/minimum-age-of-private-hire-car-drivers-in-the-spotlight-after-9027842]

The author truly put faith in his research by submitting a scientific opinion, along with 11 other neuroscientists, to the US Supreme Court for the case of TERRANCE JAMAR GRAHAM, PETITIONER v. FLORIDA. It posited that an ‘average’ teenager ‘cannot be expected to act with the same control or foresight as a mature adult.’ It is unclear if this had a significant impact on the ruling of 17 May 2010 of which we see below (from the Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School)

Justice Kennedy:

The Constitution prohibits the imposition of a life without parole sentence on a juvenile offender who did not commit homicide. A State need not guarantee the offender eventual release, but if it imposes a sentence of life it must provide him or her with some realistic opportunity to obtain release before the end of that term. The judgment of the First District Court of Appeal of Florida affirming Graham’s conviction is reversed, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

It is so ordered.

A Theory of Justice – abstract

Through Raymond Wacks. (2017). Justice: a beginner’s guide. London. Oneworld. Chapter 5.

John Rawls in his own words [A Theory of Justice. (2002). Oxford University Press. p. 12.]

My aim is to present a conception of justice which generalises and carries to a higher level of abstraction the familiar theory of the social contract found, say in Locke, Rousseau and Kant. In order to do this we are not to think of the original contract as one to enter a particular society or set up a particular form of government. Rather, the guiding idea is that the principles of justice for the basic structure of society are the object of the original agreement. They are the principles that free and rational persons concerned to further their own interests would accept in an initial position of equality as defining the fundamental terms of their association. These principles are to regulate all further agreements; they specify the kinds of social cooperation that can be entered into and the forms of government that can be established. This way of regarding the principles of justice I shall call justice as fairness.