While aging is accompanied by loss of certain abilities and customary sources of pleasure, throughout the millennia and across cultures, philosophers and religious thinkers alike have asserted that our later years, if we enter them with the proper state of mind, can be among our happiest. How happy we are, they realized, is determined not so much by what we have as by the relationship between what we have and what we want. It is important to keep this in mind, since the aging process transforms our desires, and likely, our values as well. Acceptance of the fact that our days are numbered can, paradoxically, invest those days with a richness that we might not have thought possible. Irvine will explore the advice the Stoic philosophers and others have offered on aging well.
00:00 - [Introduction]
10:20 - [Advice on aging well]
14:50 - [Philosophies of life an religions]
15:25 - [Stoicism and avoiding/overcoming negative emotions]
18:15 - [Aging and philosophical speculation]
32:55 - [The proximity of death and differences with younger people]
39:20 - [Opportunity to become eccentric]
51:48 - [A sense of wonder]
56:50 - [Grandchildren]
01:00:25 - [Q and A]
ABOUT WILLIAM B. IRVINE
William B. Irvine's research focuses on issues at the borderline of traditional philosophy and practical life, such as ethical issues involved in finances or ethical and political aspects of parenting. His most recent book A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy explores the strategies for living developed by philosophers and religious thinkers. As the result of his research, Irvine has become what he describes as a walking anachronism: a twenty-first century Stoic. He is the author of On Desire: Why We Want What We Want, a 2006 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Award. Irvine is a professor of philosophy at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
ABOUT THE CENTER
The Center for Values in Medicine, Science, and Technology's mission is to understand, evaluate, and improve the ethical and cultural influences on and implications of medicine, science, and technology. This mission is driven by several key ideas: Innovation led by the heart as well as the head. Science that is ethically and socially responsible. Medicine practiced with compassion and wisdom. Social and cultural change informed by the best science and technology. Using creativity, knowledge, and intelligence to make the world a better place in which to live.
6 сен 2024
