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(2020) Aging and human nature, Dordrecht, Springer.

Beyond control

dependence and passivity in old age

Heinz Rüegger

pp. 47-57

As people grow old, they risk becoming dependent upon the help of others. In a similar way, growing old can go hand-in-hand with a shift from activity to passivity, to the receptive dimension of life. This chapter argues that autonomy and dependence as well as activity and passivity are constitutive anthropological phenomena. It is only in accepting the tension between these poles that human life can thrive.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-25097-3_4

Full citation:

Rüegger, H. (2020)., Beyond control: dependence and passivity in old age, in M. Schweda, M. Coors & C. Bozzaro (eds.), Aging and human nature, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 47-57.

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