A little more pessimism
- Beauvoir -- run out of time, no projects --> emptiness, boredom, loss of curiosity
- hope for people who establish big life projects long before old age
- Kagan, objective list theory (pleasure, self-knowledge, loving relationships, accomplisment)
- Aristotle, focus on virtues
- Slote, the prime of life is the middle period
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Optimistic views
- Cicero
- Hedonism, Carstensen (next time)
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Cicero
- a Roman military leader and statesman (106 - 43 BC)
- also a Stoic philosopher
- School of philosophy after Aristotle, for about 500 years (Greek and Roman)
- Aristotle -- 384-322 BC
- Epictetus, The Handbook
- Seneca, Marcus Aurelius
- modern day Stoics – Massimo Pigliucci, How to Be a Stoic
Cicero's book: De Senectute (On Old Age) ANNOTATED
- Written as a dialogue between Cato (84), Scipio, and Laelius (young men)
- Main speaker is Cato (another statesman), but these are Cicero's views
- We're skipping the beginning and a section about farming in the middle
Cicero responds to four reasons why it's thought that old age is "miserable"
- First, because it takes us away from an active life. (16 - 26)
- response: 17, 18
- Second, because it weakens the body. (27 - 38)
- response: 33, 36
- Third, because it deprives us of almost all sensual pleasures. (39 - 50)
- response: 42, 44
- respect: 61, 62, 63
- Fourth, because it is not far from death. (61 - 85)
- response: 68
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Factors influencing respect for elderly
Jared Diamond TED talk. 4:38 - 12:09
- Guns Germs and Steel
- Collapse
- The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?
