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The Autumn of My Years. Aging and the Temporal Structure of Human Life

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Aging and Human Nature

Part of the book series: International Perspectives on Aging ((Int. Perspect. Aging,volume 25))

Abstract

This chapter examines the anthropological implications of aging and old age in the context of the temporal structuredness of human life. It explores how our conceptions of aging and old age receive their shape and significance by their embeddedness in an overarching temporal arc, a general “timeline” structuring individual pathways through life as well as generational roles, relations, and cycles. The chapter first gives a brief overview on the great historical and sociocultural variety of images and interpretations of human temporality. It then takes a closer look at three different levels of temporal structuredness of life: first, the fundamental coordinates and parameters of human existence in time, second, the sociocultural models of the life course, and third, the erratic individual trajectory through life. The discussion focuses on the implications of temporal structuredness on all three levels and draws conclusions for our understanding of human temporality in general and aging and old age in particular.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Kunz, Chap. 19 in this volume.

  2. 2.

    On a more generic level, the vagaries of human life, the persistent twists and turns of individual fate, were traditionally also captured in another prominent cultural image: the “wheel of fortune” (Radding 1992). The allegory refers to the ancient astrological notion of rotating celestial spheres and suggests that there is a repetitive pattern, a general regularity hidden behind the vast diversity of individual paths through life. Alluding to the ideas of a cosmic balance and poetic justice, the image of the wheel ultimately levels the persistent ups and downs of human existence and summarizes its erratic movements in an overarching circular motion. Thus, with the allegory of the wheel and its astrological frame of reference, the attempt to grasp the singular temporal structure of individual existence eventually finds a cultural image that almost seems reminiscent of the ancient cosmic cycles of life.

  3. 3.

    See Overall, Chap. 11 in this volume.

  4. 4.

    See Kruse, Chap. 3, and Kunz, Chap. 19 in this volume.

  5. 5.

    See Baars, Chap. 8, and Coors, Chap. 9 in this volume.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Services Research, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany

    Mark Schweda

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  1. Mark Schweda
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Services Research, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany

    Mark Schweda

  2. Institute of Social Ethics, Faculty of Theology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Michael Coors

  3. Department of Medical Ethics & History of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Claudia Bozzaro

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Schweda, M. (2020). The Autumn of My Years. Aging and the Temporal Structure of Human Life. In: Schweda, M., Coors, M., Bozzaro, C. (eds) Aging and Human Nature. International Perspectives on Aging, vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25097-3_10

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