Beyond control
dependence and passivity in old age
pp. 47-57
in: Mark Schweda, Michael Coors, Claudia Bozzaro (eds), Aging and human nature, Berlin, Springer, 2020Abstract
As people grow old, they risk becoming dependent upon the help of others. In a similar way, growing old can go hand-in-hand with a shift from activity to passivity, to the receptive dimension of life. This chapter argues that autonomy and dependence as well as activity and passivity are constitutive anthropological phenomena. It is only in accepting the tension between these poles that human life can thrive.