Aging and personal growth
developmental potentials in old age
pp. 27-46
in: Mark Schweda, Michael Coors, Claudia Bozzaro (eds), Aging and human nature, Berlin, Springer, 2020Abstract
Human existence is characterized by the simultaneity of vulnerability and potentiality. Vulnerability is reflected above all in the susceptibility to illness, potentiality in mental (cognitive, emotional, spiritual) development as well as in the ability to adapt successfully to new situations. As we get older, we become more vulnerable. In consequence, the individual is confronted with the task of searching for meaning in borderline situations. A central thesis of this chapter is that a significant developmental potential in old age consists in the ability to be creative in borderline situations.