The Ageing Question: : Law, Ethics, and the Global Struggle for Dignity
The Ageing Question: Law, Ethics, and the Global Struggle for Dignity explores one of the most urgent moral and policy challenges of the twenty-first century: how societies value and protect their older citizens. Drawing on philosophy, religion, and international law, Alan Bennett examines ageing not as a private misfortune but as a profound test of justice, autonomy, and human worth.
Across history, the treatment of elders has mirrored the moral condition of civilisation itself. From Plato's reflections on the soul to Kant's defence of dignity, from medieval monasteries to the modern welfare state, Bennett traces how successive eras have alternated between compassion and control, charity and rights. He reveals that while ageing is universal, the laws and institutions that govern it are fragmented and inconsistent. Unlike trade, human rights, or the environment, there is still no global legal framework dedicated to ageing. This absence, Bennett argues, exposes a fundamental gap in the moral architecture of international law.
Through a masterful synthesis of comparative jurisprudence, political philosophy, and ethical analysis, the book examines models of care and policy from Britain, the United States, Scandinavia, Japan, and Australia, including the findings of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. Each case study illuminates how economic priorities, cultural assumptions, and moral choices shape the lived experience of old age. Bennett asks whether contemporary societies have confused efficiency with progress, and whether the rhetoric of "care" can be redeemed through enforceable rights rather than discretionary welfare.
At the heart of the book lies a proposal for reform. The concluding sections present the Canberra Declaration on the Rights and Dignity of Older Persons and the Global Agreement on Ageing-original treaty-style instruments drafted by the author. These documents translate the principles of dignity, autonomy, and participation into a coherent framework for law and governance. They show how public institutions, private enterprise, and civil society can cooperate to secure justice for older persons in an interconnected world.
Written with clarity, depth, and compassion, The Ageing Question bridges disciplines and traditions. It speaks to lawyers, policymakers, ethicists, healthcare professionals, and citizens who sense that the neglect of the aged is not merely administrative failure but moral blindness. Bennett's call is both practical and philosophical: to re-imagine old age as a continuing expression of human worth, and to build the legal and ethical foundations that recognise it as such.
A compelling blend of scholarship and humanity, this book is a blueprint for a more dignified future-one in which ageing is seen not as decline but as the fulfilment of life's promise, protected by justice and sustained by respect.
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