Anxiety about old age is nothing new. Laetitia Monteils-Laeng, a researcher in the Department of Philosophy at the Université de Montréal, has found it in texts dating back over 2,000 years.
After studying the writings of ancient philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle, Stoic philosophers like Seneca, and the Greek physician Hippocrates, she noted that these thinkers’ ethical and political reflections on the challenges of old age still resonate today.
Among the Stoics, for example, she found profound questions about the difficulty of accepting old age and the way it alters our relationship with ourselves. As we age, we remain ourselves, but at the same time we change. Our physical abilities, and sometimes our mental faculties, can be affected. The way others see us also changes.
Some, like Aristotle, are extremely cynical and harsh about this period of life. “Once on a downward slope, a man should withdraw from active life.” On the other hand, others invite us to live more intensely, as we understand, at this age, that time is precious. “Let us cherish and love old age; for it is full of pleasure if one knows how to use it”, writes Seneca, for example, in a letter to Lucilius.
The writings of these philosophers also raise highly contemporary ethical questions. How do we care for the vulnerable in our societies? What place do we give them? How do we ensure that their knowledge is passed on? How can we support caregivers? What moral obligations do we have towards our parents?
Laetitia Monteils-Laeng organized an intersectoral conference that included psychogeriatricians in 2017, and a conference on the ethical and political challenges of old age in 2023.
References:
Monteils-Laeng, Laetitia, « Quand la vie devient non préférable : le vieillissement et son impact sur le pouvoir d’user de soi chez les Stoïciens », Revue de philosophie ancienne 39/2, 2022, p. 177-205.
* Monteils-Laeng, Laetitia, « Que vaut l’expérience de la vie? Lucidité platonicienne vs amertume aristotélicienne », Archives de philosophie 84, 2021/22, p. 87-98.
« Platon et la vieillesse : idéalisation du grand âge ou valorisation de l’ancien ? », Revue de philosophie ancienne 37/2, 2019, p. 153-177.[1]
Monteils-Laeng, Laetitia et M. Cambron-Goulet (dir.), « La vieillesse dans l’Antiquité : entre déchéance et sagesse », Cahiers des études anciennes 55, 2018, 253 p.