Abstract
For a long time in the existence of the human race, getting old was not such a self-evident part of life as it is today, since many people died young. Nevertheless, dreams of immortality and eternal youth have always been around, and people have always looked for ‘a cure for aging’ or ‘the fountain of youth’.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
In the Netherlands, over the years social benefit institutions have on and off considered CFS as a grounds for sickness benefits. At one point in time (2005), the Minister of health officially declared CFS not to be a sickness, but was called back by Parliament decided by a voting that CFS was a sickness. Later on again, in 2010, the Ministry declared CFS a non-disease once again.
- 2.
For example: infertility did not use to be a sickness, but now qualifies for economic support because it has become treatable as a disease. Moreover, this changes the experience of being infertile form ‘bad luck’ or ‘God’s command’ to an experience of illness. Another example that the experience of illness can be influences by the social status of an ailment is whiplash. When neck- and back aches after accidents are labeled as ‘whiplash’ and qualify for reimbursement under an insurance scheme, patients may report and experience more illness than when they do not stand to gain anything from it.
- 3.
Since Boorse starts from an evolutionary approach, he sees survival and reproduction as the main goals of all life-forms (including human life). From this point of view survival after the reproductive age may be deemed less important and therefore decline and death after reproductive age are not abnormal and should not be called ‘disease’.
- 4.
I thank Hans-Jörg Ehni for bringing this point to my attention.
- 5.
There is a parallel here with the two frames that Erik Parens has distinguished in the enhancement debate, the gratitude and the creativity frameworks (Parens 2005).
References
Binstock, R.H. 2004. The search for prolongevity: a contentious pursuit. In The fountain of youth, ed. S.G. Post and R.H. Binstock, 11–37. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Blumenthal, H.T. 2003. The aging-disease dichotomy: true or false?. Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences 58A(2): 138–145.
Boenink, M. 2010. Molecular medicine and concepts of disease: the ethical value of a conceptual analysis of emerging biomedical technologies. Medicine Healthcare and Philosophy 13:11–23.
Boorse, C. 1977. Health as a theoretical concept. Philosophy of Science 44(4): 442–473.
Boorse, C. 1997. A rebuttal on health. In What is disease?, ed. J.M. Humber and R.F. Almeder, 3–133. Totowa: Humana Press.
Buchanan, A. 2009. Human nature and enhancement. Bioethics 23(3): 141–150.
Caplan, A.L. 2004. An unnatural process: why it is not inherently wrong to seek a cure for aging. In The fountain of youth, ed. S.G. Post and R.H. Binstock, 271–285. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Conrad, P. 1992. Medicalization and social control. Annual Review Sociology 18: 209–232.
Ebrahim, S. 2002. The medicalisation of old age should be encouraged. British Medical Journal 324: 861–863.
Fishman, J.R., R.H. Binstock, M.A. Lambrix. 2008. Anti-aging science: the emergence, maintenance, and enhancement of a discipline. Journal of Aging Studies 22: 295–303.
Gems, D. 2011. Tragedy and delight: the ethics of decelerated aging. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B366: 108–112.
Hayflick, L. 2000. The future of aging. Nature 408: 267–269.
Hofmann, B. 2001. The technological invention of disease. Journal of Medical Ethics: Medical Humanities 27: 10–19.
Hofmann, B. 2002. On the triad disease, illness and sickness. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 27(6): 651–673.
Huber, M., Knottnerus, A., Green, L., et al. 2011. How should we define health?. British Medical Journal 343: d4163.
Izaks, G.J., and R.G.J. Westendorp. 2003. Ill or just old? Towards a conceptual framework of the relation between aging and disease. BMC Geriatrics. doi: 10.1186/1471-2318-3-7.
Jones, D.G., and M.I. Whitaker. 2009. Finding a context for discussing human life-extension. American Journal of Bioethics 9(12): 77–78.
Juengst, E.T. 2004. Anti-aging research and the limits of medicine. In The fountain of youth, ed. S.G. Post and R.H. Binstock, 321–339. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kampf, A., and L.A. Bothelo. 2009. Anti-aging and biomedicine: critical studies on the pursuit of maintaining, revitalizing and enhancing aging bodies. Medicine Studies 1: 187–195.
Lucke, J.C., P.C. Diedrichs, B. Partridge, and D.W. Hall. 2009. Anticipating the anti-aging pill. EMBO Reports 10(2): 108–113.
Nordenfelt, L. 1995. On the nature of health. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Nordenfelt, L. 1998. On medicine and health enhancement—towards a conceptual framework. Medicine Healthcare and Philosophy 1: 5–12.
Nordenfelt, L. 2007. The concepts of health and illness revisited. Medicine, Healthcare and Philosophy 10: 5–10.
Olshansky, S.J., L. Hayflick, and B.A. Carnes. 2002. Position statement on human aging. Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences 57A(8): 292–297.
Parens, E. 2005. Authenticity and ambivalence. Hastings Center Report 34–41.
Parens, E. 2011. On good and bad forms of medicalization. Bioethics. doi: 10.1111/j.1467–8519.2011.01885.x.
Parsons, T. 1951. The social system. London: Routledge
Post, S.G. 2004. Decelerated aging: should I drink from the fountain of youth?. In The fountain of youth, ed. S.G. Post and R.H. Binstock, 72–93. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
President’s Council on Bioethics. 2003. Beyond therapy. New York: Dana Press.
Rose, N. 2007. The politics of life itself. Princeton: Princeton University Press
Schermer, M., I. Bolt. 2011. ADHD and the grey area between treatment and enhancement. In Enhancing human capacities, ed. J. Savulescu, R. ter Meulen and G Kahane, 179–193. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Scully, J.L. 2004. What is a disease?. EMBO reports 5(7): 650–653.
Smith, R. 2002. In search of “non-disease”. British Medical Journal 324: 883–885.
Strawbridge, W.J., M.I. Wallhagen, and R.D. Cohen. 2002. Successful aging and well-being: self-rated compared with Rowe and Kahn. The Gerontologist 42(6): 727–733.
Twaddle, A. 1994. Disease, illness and sickness revisited. In Disease, Illness and Sickness: Three central concepts in the theory of health, eds. A. Twaddle and L. Nordenfelt, 1–18. Linkoping: Studies on Health and Society.
Vijg, J., J. Campisi. 2008. Puzzles, promises and a cure for aging. Nature doi: 10.1038/nature07216.
Vincent, J.A. 2009. Aging, anti-aging, and anti-anti-aging: who are the progressives in the debate on the future of human biological aging?. Medicine Studies 1: 197–208.
Vincent, J.A., E. Tulle, and J. Bond. 2008. The anti-aging enterprise: science, knowledge, expertise, rhetoric and values. Journal of Aging Studies 22: 221–224.
Whitehouse, P.J., and E.T. Juengst. 2005. Antiaging medicine and mild cognitive impairment: practice and policy issues for geriatrics. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 53: 1417–1422.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Schermer, M. (2013). Old Age Is an Incurable Disease—or Is It?. In: Schermer, M., Pinxten, W. (eds) Ethics, Health Policy and (Anti-) Aging: Mixed Blessings. Ethics and Health Policy, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3870-6_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3870-6_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-3869-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-3870-6
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)