Aging and the anthropology of dependency

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Aging and the anthropology of dependency

• Alfredo Marcos
• Department of Philosophy / University of
  Valladolid (Spain)
• amarcos_at_fyl.uva.es

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• 1. Introduction
• 2. People and other animals in Peter Singer.
  Consequences for dependent people
• 3. People and other animals in Alasdair
  MacIntyre. Consequences for dependent people
• 4. Concluding remarks and new perspectives

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1. Introduction

• An anthropology of the dependency could improve
  our understanding of aging. Dependency occurs
  because our animal and social nature
• Some modern philosophers have defined human being
  exclusively as a rational being, forgetting our
  animal part, our vulnerability and dependency
• Aristotelian tradition has always defined human
  being as a rational and social animal (zoon logon
  politikon)
• The Christian element added by Aquinas to the
  Aristotelian tradition taught us the great value
  of the weak and dependent person
• Nowadays, some philosophers, like Singer and
  MacIntyre, are bringing to the first plane the
  corporal nature of the human being and our
  closeness to the rest of the animals, but each
  one of them has reached completely different
  conclusions regarding dependency

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2. People and other animals in Peter
SingerConsequencies for dependent people

• Extended utilitarianism and hedonism
• Anti-speciesism
• The dilemma of the anti-speciesism no
  discrimination at all, or discrimination in value
  between human beings
• Singer justifies infanticide in some cases and
  accept that different human lives have different
  value. Dependent people seem to be less valuable
  than autonomous people

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3. People and other animals in Alasdair
MacIntyreConsequencies for dependent people

• Revisiting Aristotles and Aquinass
  Anthropology Perhaps writes MacIntyre - in
  order to consider properly the phenomena of
  disability and dependency, it would be necessary
  to begin with a new affirmation of our animal
  condition
• A moral philosophy written from the perspective
  of the dependent people (for all of us have
  been/are/will be dependent people)
• Virtues of autonomy and virtues of dependency
• Equal dignity, unconditional care
• Learning from dependent people

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4. Concluding remarks and new perspectives

• Three (or four) ages of human life an erroneous
  theory
• Three (or four) ages, but the same dignity
• Third age and evolutionary theory
• Anthropology (zoon logon politikon) and the
  principles of bioethics
• Rationality (logon) - Autonomy
• Biological vulnerability (zoon) Beneficence,
  nonmaleficence
• Social dependency (politikon) - Justice