[Towards a sheltered aging in individual and social responsibility].

Aging is a slow process, the beginning of which as well as its progress are defined in quite different ways from the biomedical, psychological, or sociological point of view. Philosophy can perform a significant contribution to a sound and human approach to this phenomenon of life: first clarifying the present situation on the background of historic experiences; second improving a fundamental ascertainment of our ontological condition as human beings, characterized by finiteness and vulnerability, while recalling that humans possess the unique capability to reflect on this aspect of their existence; and, always moving from the results of that analysis, lastly suggesting some tentative solutions, conceived as ethical-practical guidelines and values pool, for an overcoming of the individual and social challenges posed by aging. The aim consists in a re-interpretation of aging as a "becoming oneself", without denying hereby the negativity embodied in the finiteness and fragility of our life. To this purpose it is necessary to distinguish the situations where aging, while maintaining full self-consciousness, can be shaped as an autonomous process, from those, mostly near to the edge of death, for which the goal of self-realization cannot be applied, making rather indispensable the resort to concepts of respect and empathy.