Abstract
This chapter focuses on the question what constitutes aging with dignity. I argue that it is not least our lack of willingness to grant old age its own place in life that makes older people vulnerable for violations of their dignity. In this sense, dignity can also be a question of the correct anthropology.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
The proposition that dignity only is a topic when the circumstances are in any way negative, is, however, simplified. It is true that after the win in the final, no one asked whether the German national team were dignified winners. However, when some players mocked their opponents from the final, Argentina, with a song a few days later at the victory celebration at the Brandenburg Gate, they were very much confronted with the accusation of having acted in an undignified way. In fact, negative circumstances appear to make it more difficult to stay dignified, unlike positive circumstances, like the win of the World Championship, but the latter also demand dignified behavior. (I would like to thank the colleagues that pointed this out to me.)
- 2.
I confine my considerations to the situation in Germany, which I take to be representative for some of the wealthiest countries only. For a global picture see, e.g., the World Report on Ageing and Health (WHO 2015).
- 3.
- 4.
See Schweda, Chap. 10 in this volume.
- 5.
This text is a translation of the article „In Würde altern“, published in Eva Weber-Guskar and Mario Brandhorst, eds. (2017). Menschenwürde. Berlin: Suhrkamp, 338–360, reprinted in Ralf Stoecker (2019). Theorie und Praxis der Menschenwürde. Paderborn: Mentis (with minimal changes). I would like to thank the Suhrkamp-Verlag for the permission to publish it. I have presented previous versions of the German text at the Philosophical Institute of the University Bern as well as at the Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft in Aachen. I would like to thank Markus Stepanians and the participants in the discussion for their ideas. Special thanks go to Jens Kulenkampff and Sebastian Muders for many helpful objections and additions, as well as Eva Weber-Guskar and Mario Brandhorst for the critical reading and gracious support. Moreover, I am very grateful to Pia Liebetrau and Mark Schweda for taking care of the translation of this text.
References
Améry, J. (1994). On aging: Revolt und resignation. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Brecht, B. (2015). The unseemly old lady. In J. Willet & R. Manheim (Eds.), The collected short stories of Bertold Brecht (pp. 247–254). London: Bloomsbury.
Cicero (1991). On duties. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cicero (2009). Cato the elder on old age. Charleston: Bibliobazaar.
Damschen, G., & Schönecker, D. (Eds.). (2003). Der moralische Status menschlicher Embryonen: Pro und contra Spezies-, Kontinuums-, Identitäts- und Potentialitätsargument. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter.
Des Pres, T. (1976). The survivor: An anatomy of life in the death camps. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Deutsche Bundesregierung (2017). Jedes Alter zählt: Demografiestrategie der Bundesregierung. Berlin: Ministerium für Inneres, Bau und Heimat.
Düwell, M., Braarvig, J., Brownsword, R., & Mieth, D., (Eds.). (2014). The Cambridge handbook of human dignity: Interdisciplinary perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach (2012). Generali Altersstudie 2013: Wie ältere Menschen leben, denken und sich engagieren. Berlin: Fischer Taschenbuch.
Jacobson, N. (2009). Dignity violation in health care. Qualitative Health Research, 19, 1536–1547.
Joerden, J. C., Hilgendorf, E., & Thiele, F. (Eds.). (2013). Menschenwürde und Medizin: Ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Jopp, D. S., Rott, C., Boerner, K., Boch, K., & Kruse, A. (2013). Zweite Heidelberger Hundertjährigen-Studie: Herausforderungen und Stärken des Lebens mit 100 Jahren. Stuttgart: Robert Bosch Stiftung.
Kant, I. (1956). Critique of practical reason. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
Margalit, A. (1996). The decent society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Mischke, J., & Haustein, T. (2011). Ältere Menschen in Deutschland und der EU. Wiesbaden: Statistisches Bundesamt.
Pico della Mirandola, G. (1971). Oration on the dignity of man. Chicago: Gateway Ed.
Rückert, G. (1994, December 16). Wir haben ausgedient. ZEIT.
Schaber, P. (2010). Instrumentalisierung und Würde. Paderborn: Mentis Verlag.
Singer, P. (1987). Life’s uncertain voyage. In J. J. C. Smart, P. Pettit, R. Sylvan, & J. Norman (Eds.), Metaphysics and morality: Essays in honour of J. J. C. Smart (pp. 154–172). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Stoecker, R. (2017). Dignity and the case in favor of assisted suicide. In S. Muders (Ed.), Human dignity and assisted death (pp. 30–45). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Stoecker, R. (2019). Theorie und Praxis der Menschenwürde. Paderborn: Mentis Verlag.
Stoecker, R., & Neuhäuser, C. (2013). Erläuterungen der Menschenwürde aus ihrem Würdecharakter. In J. C. Joerden, E. Hilgendorf, & F. Thiele (Eds.), Menschenwürde und Medizin: Ein interdisziplinäres Handbuch (pp. 37–72). Berlin: Duncker & Humblot.
Stoecker, R., & Neuhäuser, C. (2014). Human dignity as universal nobility. In M. Düwell, J. Braarvig, R. Brownsword, & D. Mieth (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of human dignity (pp. 298–309). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Temsch, J. (1994, November 25). Das wird schon wieder. ZEIT.
World Health Organisation (2015). World report on ageing and health. Geneva: WHO.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stoecker, R. (2020). Aging with Dignity. A Philosophical Perspective. In: Schweda, M., Coors, M., Bozzaro, C. (eds) Aging and Human Nature. International Perspectives on Aging, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25097-3_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25097-3_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-25096-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-25097-3
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)