The future of ageing

Abstract

This paper considers the forms of life of old age and the opportunities presented by these forms of life (i.e. optimal ageing) as well as corresponding research programmes into gerontology. Ageing and old age are usually viewed more as a biological, medical and socio-economic problem and less as a form of life that can be optimized and cultivated. Viewed from this perspective, the gerontological research programme is the programme of interventionist science. This, of course, includes natural scientific research, which today is organized along very specialized disciplinary lines. The point to grasp is that the gerontological research programme is an integrative programme, and thus something pursued in an interdisciplinary, even transdisciplinary, manner. This possibility is supported by the fact that there is apparently no uniform genetic programme that could explain the ageing process and prevent differential ageing. In the introductory part of the paper, a differentiated culture of ageing is discussed, followed by a descriptive part, in which various research programmes are presented. The conclusion takes up some ideas on the interdisciplinarity or transdisciplinarity of a future science of ageing.