Phenomenology of Old Age and the Body as an Anchor to Time: "One Must Have to Be Old to Realize How Short Life Truly Is"

Old age constitutes a stage in human development that is less systematically studied by philosophy. Recently, in the last few years, a greater number of works has appeared about old age, most likely due to new ethical, social, economic and political challenges that bring about accelerated aging in the world s population. Why hasn t old age had greater prominence in philosophy s history? Throughout this work, I will show that the marginality should not be attributed exclusively to neglect from the discipline s proponents; rather that it seems founded in the phenomenon s own nature. As we shall see, if it is true that old age can be expressed in different human and non-human species, it has a particularly exhausting impact due to our temporal and spatial consciousness. Starting with a philosophical reflection on aging, the work attempts to contribute to the productive and historical relation between philosophy and medicine.