UPPVJP028 Philosophical Issues of the Life of a Senior

Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Winter 2020
Extent and Intensity
13/0/0. 4 credit(s). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Petr Slováček, Ph.D.
Institute of Pedagogical and Psychological Sciences – Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Contact Person: PhDr. Edita Ondřejová, Ph.D.
Prerequisites (in Czech)
FAKULTA(FVP) && TYP_STUDIA(B) && FORMA(P)
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The issues of age and ageing are rather marginal to philosophy. However, the situation is changing also due to social changes of the last few centuries and professional philosophers are turning their attention towards them. The Philosophical issues of the life of a senior course reflects on both in the following manner. As the revived interest in the issue of age and ageing is based on reflection on the meaning of old age and ageing, the course looks at how this meaning can be shaped. The philosophical reflection pertaining to specific contexts can then only be analyzed against this background. These analyses will be complemented by a familiarization with several important issues precisely opened in connection with old age and ageing by contemporary philosophers.
Learning outcomes
Professional knowledge: Having completed the course, students will be able to describe the transformation of the significance of old and ageing in regard to cultural and historical development of the western civilization sphere in a qualifying comparison to the eastern cultural context. Based on this knowledge, they will be able to adopt a critical view of every significance of old age, in other words, they will be aware of the significance variability of the notions of age and ageing. Having completed the course, students will also be familiar with some key problems connected wit ageing.

Professional skills: Having completed the course, students will be able to use their knowledge in their approach to the elderly. Above all, they will be able to create a distance from the dominant mainstream approach to the elderly and work on their non-subjective relationship to them.

General qualification: On a general level, students will understand the problems of the old age of the cultural-historical and philosophical perspective. They will particularly understand that the authentic approach, i.e. an approach uncontrolled only by systematic criteria, is in no way natural, albeit very desirable, especially from the perspective of the ethics of helping professions.
Syllabus
  • 1. The relationship of philosophy and issues of ageing  basic structure and overview of important sources for the study of the problems
  • 2. The problematic concept of old age and ageing  variability of the attribute of old age
  • 3. Age and ageing in the ancient (Greek and Roman) world  two cultural contexts, two ways of looking at old age
  • 4. Ancient Philosophy and the question of ageing  monistic and pluralistic perspective
  • 5. Medieval perceptions of old age  old age as one of the natural phases of human life, the question of time and human time, Christianity and the significance of old age
  • 6. Old age in the modern era and in the modern world  changes related to ageing in the secularizing world
  • 7. The concept of time in the context of ageing  world time and human time
  • 8. Old age and storytelling  possibilities of narration in relation to old age and ageing
  • 9. Ageing and dignity  the issue of human dignity and its preservation
  • 10. Ageing and identity  the issue of identity of subjects
  • 11. Ageing and autonomy  criticism of the dominant conception of autonomy from the perspective of feminist philosophy as applied on seniors
  • 12. Old age and death  coping with its closeness.
  • 13. Comparative perspective  old age in the eastern cultural context
Literature
    required literature
  • ANTON, A. A. Aging in clasical philosophy. In: G. SCARRE, ed. The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Aging. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, s. 115134.
  • BAARS, J. Concepts of time in age and aging. In: G. SCARRE, ed. The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Aging. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, s. 69-86.
  • DVOŘÁKOVÁ, D. Kvalita života seniorů v domovech pro seniory. Praha: Grada, 2012. ISBN 978-80-247-4138-3. info
  • JANIŠ, Kamil and Jitka SKOPALOVÁ. Volný čas seniorů (Leisure time of senior citizens). první. Praha: Grada, 2016, 156 pp. Pedagogika. ISBN 978-80-247-5535-9. info
  • OVERAL, Ch. How old is old? Changing Conceptions of Old Age. In: G. SCARRE, ed. The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Aging. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, s. 13-48.
  • SLOVÁČEK, P.Filosofické otázky života seniora[online]. Opava: Slezská univerzita v Opavě, Fakulta veřejných politik v Opavě, 2019. Dostupné z: https://elearning.slu.cz/course/index.php?categoryid=45
  • SLOVÁČEK, P.Teorie politična Carla Schmitta a její antropologické a theologické předpoklady. Filozofia. 2016, 71(10), 821831. ISSN 0046-385 X. (SCOPUS, ERIH)
  • SLOVÁČEK, P. Tomášova metafyzika člověka  člověk jako prostřední článek hierarchie stvoření. Filozofia. 2016, 71(6), 462473. ISSN 0046-385 X. (ERIH, SCOPUS)
    recommended literature
  • SCARRE, G., ed. The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Aging. Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.
  • NUSSBAUM, M. C. Křehkost dobra. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2006.
Assessment methods (in Czech)
zkouška
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is also listed under the following terms Winter 2019, Accreditation winter, Winter 2021, Winter 2022, Winter 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Winter 2020, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.slu.cz/course/fvp/winter2020/UPPVJP028