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Humanism and Philosophy

Meaningful Ageing: A humanist view

  • Start: 1 January 2019 
  • End: autumn 2023
  • Status: ongoing

The main objective of this book is to add, from a humanist perspective, new interdisciplinary insights, and research results to the current academic debate on ageing. 

Description

Ageing is a topic of growing interest these days. As life expectancy in western societies is still increasing, the growing number and proportion of older persons raise urgent questions on how to age ‘well’. Predominantly, questions on ageing are taken from biomedical and economic paradigms. While people of age are seen as a cost in society, biomedical research aims at curing the declining effects of ageing, thus furthering ideals of ‘healthy’ ageing, ‘active’ ageing, or ‘successful’ ageing. Due to the orientation towards these ideals, the emphasis in the current academic debate on ageing is on biomedical, genetic, demographic, policy, and behavioural & social science research. 


The main objective of this book is to add, from a humanist perspective, new interdisciplinary insights, and research results to the current academic debate on ageing. Thereby, ageing is understood as part of a meaningful life course – the old age being valuable on its own. This book develops a nuanced and differentiated ideal for ageing well in the second half of life from a humanist perspective, with an emphasis on existential issues and meaning-in-life, and the capacity to respond autonomously to the challenges of ageing. 


Authors: Carol Ryff, Ricca Edmondson, Kate de Medeiros, Peter Derkx, Hanne Laceulle and Joseph Dohmen, Wander van der Vaart and Pien Bos, Roelof Hortulanus, Joachim Duyndam, Anja Machielse.

Researchers

Prof. Joachim Duyndam and Prof. dr. Anja Machielse (editors)

Partners

  • Policy Press, New Policy Press Series: Ageing in a global context.
  • British Society of Gerontology (BSG)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

The main objective of this book (editors: prof. Joachim Duyndam and prof. Anja Machielse) is to add new interdisciplinary insights, and research results to the current academic debate on ageing.