Almeder R F
Int J Aging Hum Dev. 1983;16(3):161-5. doi: 10.2190/CU9N-FAN7-1LCM-LU6W.
In Growing Old in America, David Fischer argues that colonial America witnessed a sudden and revolutionary shift in social attitude from gerontophilia to gerontophobia. It is argued here that the shift can be explained as the necessary result of an emerging materialism which came to dominate mercantile America. It is shown how philosophical materialism requires an attitude of denigration toward aging and the elderly, and that the future of our collective attitude toward the elderly is wedded philosophically to the future success or failure of philosophical materialism. It is also suggested that the future of materialism in America looks dim and that there will emerge a strong philosophical base adequate for reforming ethical attitudes and engendering a much more favorable attitude toward the elderly in general. It is suggested that positive or negative attitudes toward aging and the elderly are rooted in unconscious commitments to non-materialistic (dualistic) or materialistic views on the nature of man. The two basically different views on the nature of man beget the two basically different views and attitudes toward aging and the elderly. Which attitude is right is a function of which philosophical view is correct and the paper closes with some evidence that materialism is on the wane.
在《美国的老龄化》一书中，大卫·费舍尔认为，殖民时期的美国见证了社会态度从亲老到恐老的突然且革命性的转变。本文认为，这种转变可以解释为新兴物质主义的必然结果，这种物质主义后来主导了商业美国。文中展示了哲学物质主义如何需要一种对衰老和老年人的贬低态度，以及我们对老年人的集体态度的未来在哲学上与哲学物质主义的未来成败紧密相连。还指出美国物质主义的未来看起来黯淡，并且将会出现一个强大的哲学基础，足以改革道德态度并普遍产生对老年人更为有利的态度。有人认为，对衰老和老年人的积极或消极态度植根于对人类本质的非物质主义（二元论）或物质主义观点的无意识承诺。关于人类本质的两种基本不同观点产生了对衰老和老年人的两种基本不同观点和态度。哪种态度正确取决于哪种哲学观点正确，文章最后给出了一些物质主义正在衰落的证据。
