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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 26, 2024

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To be clear, the moral requirements are upon those who are human, specifically, and not those who are able to consent, right?

As I assume you wouldn't be okay with children having sex with animals (since you think both are unable to consent)?

To be clear, the moral requirements are upon those who are human, specifically, and not those who are able to consent, right?

As I assume you wouldn't be okay with children having sex with animals (since you think both are unable to consent)?

Not specifically humans, no. If Vulcans existed, they would also have moral requirements.

But you're fundamentally right: being unable to consent to sex is not a sufficient condition for being outside the realm of moral responsibility. However, in most plausible examples, a child who engages in sexual acts with an animal (and hasn't been specifically told not to etc.) likely doesn't understand what they are doing, so should be treated as someone who did something wrong without knowing. I think this is common sense: if you saw your 7 year old daughter doing things with your dog, you'd treat her very differently from your 70 year old neighbour doing things with your dog, and one of the pertinent differences is their likely degree of understanding what they are doing.