The paradox of human finitude
between fatalism and resistance
pp. 161-169
in: Mark Schweda, Michael Coors, Claudia Bozzaro (eds), Aging and human nature, Berlin, Springer, 2020Abstract
"Fatalists' believe we should accept our temporal finitude and not attempt to extend the human life span. "Resistors' believe we should resist our temporal limits and try to extend them. In this chapter, I show that there are serious problems with fatalism as it relies on inaccurate views about old age and aging. However, the debate between fatalists and resistors is not easily settled because it is rooted in what I call the paradox of human finitude: On the one hand, we as human beings are constantly engaged in overcoming or transcending our temporal limits, while on the other hand, without temporal finitude we would not be human.