How young can you die of old age?

Question

philisophically speaking of course.

Answer 1

Well... scientifically the answer so far seems to be the age of seven years.

Typically someone is referred to as dieing of 'old age' if the cause of their death is the breakdown of bodily systems that is usually the result of advanced years. Old people just have a lot of accumulated wear, so it's not a vast suprise when it causes them to die.

What is more of a surprise is when a child dies for the same reason. This is referred to as 'progeria'. Their bodies go through much of the same wear but at a highly advanced rate, and the earliest recorded death of progeria I can find occurred at the age of seven (link 1).

And since medicine and linguistics are both branches of philosophy, that answer works for me. ( :

Answer 2

Philosophically speaking I imagine the optimum age when one is dying of old age is equivalent to the shocked look one gets when it is discovered you are still alive.

Answer 3

seventies