O retrato da velhice sob duas perspectivas filosóficas

Abstract

This article aims to examine, trough the time, the condition of the elderly in human history from the perspective of the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir and the philosopher Cícero. According to the author, the meaning and value of old age vary with societies, although it is almost consensual that the old man is seen as a useless and decrepit burden. Thus, the old, as a social category, has no self-representation; his destiny meets the practical and ideological interests of the community, therefore, his status is granted and his condition is rejected, because old age is not understood as a phase of life, but as its limit. In Cícero, we will see that old age can be productive, dynamic, active and pleasurable. Thinker produced a defense of old age. He carefully explains the reasons why, for most, old age is hateful. For him, the philosophical foundation for a satisfied life is to live according to the laws of nature. In this way, everything that is born also grows and dies, that is, it is wise to accept this divine precept. As a defender of the immortality of the soul, death does not scare him.