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Courage of the old age

Summary/Abstract: It is worthwhile coming to the ancient legacy. Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote a dialogue about the old age in 44 B.C. in a difficult moment of his life. This way he wanted to repel an attack of depression. In his philosophy the fear of the old age doesn’t have grounds. The autumn of one’s life has numerous merits. An elderly man can draw on the rich experience, he can devote to studies without obstacles, free life from anxienty, and in the end through the gate of death he can enter the kongdom of great ancestors and lost relatives. However Cyceron’s thought is an attempt to enchant reality. Thomas de Quincey in The Last Days of Immanuel Kant showed that the power of the philosophical mind was losing with the ruthless biological regres. Only the awareness of defeat and the threat of suffering makes the space for the true courage of the old age. Drowning anxiety out — even with the best intention of rescuing human vitality — is picking the chance up for hearing important questions and at the same time for reaching maturity.

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