Quotation
Last reviewed:
“Old age is a biological phenomenon, but also a cultural fact.”
Simone de Beauvoir · Existentialism · Modern · 1970
What does it mean?
Old age is biological and it is cultural. A body changes, and a society decides what the change means, who is set aside, who is still allowed a project. A rival reading takes the sentence as a denial of the body, the same misreading her sentence about the body as a situation receives. She is refusing the split. Another reading thinks 'cultural fact' means the hardship is only attitude and will vanish if we are polite. The book is long because the material conditions are not polite.
Did Simone de Beauvoir really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Patrick O'Brian translated La Vieillesse as The Coming of Age. The card is a paraphrase of the introduction's claim that ageing is biological and, inseparably, made by a society's treatment of the old. Do not swear this is a title-page sentence without the page.
Where it comes from
The Coming of Age, introduction
Approximate date: 1970.
How to use it
A hospital in Newcastle discharges an old man and calls the problem medical, while the flat, the care rota, and the way the ward speaks to him are treated as atmosphere. The introduction says the atmosphere is part of the phenomenon. Fixing only the biology, or only the posters about respect, misses the joint. The joint is the book.
A mindset reading
La Vieillesse, 1970, is late Beauvoir, and it is less quoted than The Second Sex because it is harder to turn into a coming-of-age story about youth. The neglect of the book is almost an example of its thesis.
Understand the philosophy
Patrick O'Brian's English is the usual one. The introduction sets biology and culture together so that neither explanation can pose as the whole. That method is the same method as The Second Sex, turned on a different situation.
- society
- self
- change
FAQ
What does it mean?
Old age is biological and it is cultural. A body changes, and a society decides what the change means, who is set aside, who is still allowed a project. A rival reading takes the sentence as a denial of the body, the same misreading her sentence about the body as a situation receives. She is refusing the split. Another reading thinks 'cultural fact' means the hardship is only attitude and will vanish if we are polite. The book is long because the material conditions are not polite.
Did Simone de Beauvoir really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Patrick O'Brian translated La Vieillesse as The Coming of Age. The card is a paraphrase of the introduction's claim that ageing is biological and, inseparably, made by a society's treatment of the old. Do not swear this is a title-page sentence without the page.
Which work is it in?
The Coming of Age, introduction Approximate date: 1970.