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Flourishing while withering: an explication and critique of Simone de Beauvoir’s phenomenology of aging
Södertörn University, School of Culture and Education, Centre for Studies in Practical Knowledge.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8973-8591
2023 (English)In: Continental philosophy review, ISSN 1387-2842, E-ISSN 1573-0611Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]

This paper explores the process of aging from a phenomenological perspective. Supplementing the model of becoming old found in Simone de Beauvoir’s work with a phenomenology of human suffering and flourishing, it asks whether it is possible to lead a good life in the process of becoming old. Is it possible to flourish while experiencing bodily waning? Is it possible to flourish while experiencing the shrinking of one’s everyday world and the passing away of close others? Aging, at least in its protracted phases, appears to become full of suffering rather than flourishing. What are the prospects of finding meaningful life projects despite old age? By making use of insight found in Heidegger and other phenomenologists the paper tries to develop a slightly different view on aging than the one found in Beauvoir, stressing the importance of embodied experiences and life choices, which not only depend upon societal oppression and being objectified by others, but also upon processes of nature and the possibilities of an intergenerational intersubjectivity. Resources for this project is found in the philosophy of affectivity developed by Heidegger and other phenomenologists of facticity, such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Charles Taylor, Helmuth Plessner and Hannah Arendt.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2023.
Keywords [en]
Aging, Beauvoir, Embodiment, Feelings, Flourishing, Suffering
National Category
Philosophy
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-52863DOI: 10.1007/s11007-023-09621-3ISI: 001117992200001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85178410466OAI: oai:DiVA.org:sh-52863DiVA, id: diva2:1819261
Available from: 2023-12-13 Created: 2023-12-13 Last updated: 2024-01-03Bibliographically approved

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Svenaeus, Fredrik

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • harvard-anglia-ruskin-university
  • apa-old-doi-prefix.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-harvard.csl
  • sodertorns-hogskola-oxford.csl
  • Other style
More styles
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  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
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