Abstract

This article is a reflection on the sense of old age and its relation to personal autonomy. It can be structured in three phases: firstly, it presents the devaluation suffered by old age through different conceptions about it -from classic Antiquity and Christian times to Modernity and its crisis till the signs of revalorization today. In a second instance it reflects on the root of the problem in the apparent contradiction between autonomy and person. There the article analyses the role of autonomy as a manifestation or as a basis of the person and tries to clear the false dilema –autonomy vs. human life; autonomy vs. old age; autonomy vs. solidarity-. Finally, the article points out some ideas in order to find an authentic human sense to old age.