11/7/2023 0 Comments Pathological aging def![]() It also represents inappropriate medicalization of the elderly – as if they did not have enough to suffer already. This betrays a contempt for older people, and promotes their marginalization ( Haber, 2004). Some even claim that aging itself is a disease. Disturbingly, they have managed to achieve this using animals models in the laboratory. These scientists openly advocate going beyond looking for treatments for diseases of aging, and intervening in aging itself. Perhaps, therefore, it might be better after all if older people were left with some age-related disease, some suffering, at least near the end of life, to help ease the prospect of inevitable death.Īnother concern is that some scientists studying aging pander to that egoistic minority who wish to live longer than their allotted time. As expressed by philosopher Leon Kass: “Would not the fear and loathing of death increase, in the absence of its antecedent harbingers?” And “Death would always be untimely, unprepared for, shocking” ( Kass, 1988). However, this outcome would not be unproblematic, as it would cause an increase in the fearful anticipation of death among the elderly. This would allow each of us to then eventually die of pure aging, feeling well one day, and then dying suddenly the next – perhaps in our sleep. ![]() The ultimate outcome of biogerontology would be treatments that liberate older people entirely from pathology, yet allow them to age naturally. The aim of this research is not to slow aging or increase lifespan, but to increase healthspan, and to add life to years, not years to life. Their priority should be to understand how aging gives rise to age-related disease in order to find ways to protect older people from late-life illness. There are scientists that try to understand the biological basis of aging. Such research is worlds apart from the folly of trying to resist aging. Treating these diseases is the duty of doctors, and finding new treatments for them a major priority of medical research. Thus, although aging itself is not a disease, it is associated with an increased burden of disease. Older people do tend to get ill more often and to develop serious diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. There is a right length of life: 3 score and 10 years (i.e., 70) to want more is unseemly, greedy, and selfish.Īging is not a disease, but rather a normal and natural process. Conversely, to refuse to accept aging is a sign of weakness of character, of egotism, like a rich man who tries to avoid paying his taxes – and, of course, it is folly. Thus, one should endure aging and bow out gracefully with stoicism and dignity in accordance with nature’s wishes. In this way, aging assures the survival of the species. Aging also serves a function in nature: to weed out old and worn out individuals thereby freeing up resources for younger generations. ![]() From the Judeo–Christian perspective, it is our just punishment for Original Sin, specifically that of Eve, who ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil – cherchez la femme. Although aging seems frightening at first, and it is tragic that we all have to die, in the end it is for the good. Disease: A View from TraditionĪccording to traditional views, aging is part of the natural order of things that one should not resist. I will then describe how its elimination yields a clearer picture of the greatest cause of human illness and death. ![]() In this essay I will discuss the distinction drawn between aging and disease, starting with an account (in the form of a mild parody) of various traditional but largely false ideas about aging, some of them supported by this misunderstanding. ![]() Here a salient example is the widespread and, arguably, false view that aging is distinct from disease and therefore not appropriate for medical attention – and even something benign and wholesome ( Kass, 1983 Callahan, 1994 Fukuyama, 2002). Yet when it comes to aging this salutary process of rationalization is still in its early stages. Such a process of rationalization has profoundly affected the field of medicine, and the way we view many health-related issues, such as surgery, hygiene, infection, vaccination, abortion, contraception, homosexuality, and many others. A more realistic view of things, though it can initially cause controversy by upsetting traditional views and practices, ultimately enables more effective and more ethical action. Is our understanding of aging still in the dark ages? Over the course of the last centuries a gradual process of enlightenment has taken place in many different areas of human understanding, in which traditional views have been overturned by new knowledge borne of reason and the results of scientific investigation. ![]()
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