Abstract
This paper deploys both Levinasian and Derridean models of ethics to critique the developing field of biogerontology. Advanced anti-aging technologies – such as telomere-based gene therapies, stem cell therapies, and mitochondrial manipulation – continue to emerge as potential treatments for old age. The biopolitical move of framing aging as a disease-state holds various ethical implications, not least of concerning how the human as a category is established and maintained. Through an exploration of Levinasian ethics, I expose the problematic dimensions of these technologies that ultimately position the elderly as absolutely Other. Further, I draw on Derridean notions of the sovereign and the beast to explore the manifold ways the medical community is exploiting their power in violent regime of the erasure of age.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Medical Perspectives on Aging, Health, Wellness
KEYWORDS
"Ethics", " Erasure", " Biotechnology"