Aging and Self-Realization: Cultural Narratives About Later Life

Dominant cultural narratives about later life dismiss the value senior citizens hold for society. In this cultural-philosophical critique, Hanne Laceulle outlines counternarratives that acknowledge both potentials and vulnerabilities of later life. She draws on the rich philosophical tradition of thought about self-realization and explores the significance of ethical concepts essential to the process of growing old, such as autonomy, authenticity, and virtue. These counternarratives aim to support older individuals in their search for a meaningful age identity, while they make society recognize its senior members as valued participants and moral agents of their own lives.

Hanne Laceulle obtained her doctorate cum laude at the University of Humanistic Studies in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where she currently works as an assistant professor of philosophy of life course and art of living. In 2017, she received the European Network in Aging Studies (ENAS) award for the best PhD thesis.