BECOMING NEW IN OLD AGE. BODILY EXPERIENCE AND PERSONAL FLOURISHING

This paper aims at investigating ageing as a multifaceted experience in which a redefinition of one’s habitualities of experience, which often comes with a reduction of previous possibilities and a stronger sense of one’s finitude and vulnerability, can still coexist with moments of personal flourishing. I will particularly examine the bodily dimension of ageing, analyzing how one’s body feels in old age and what valences the new experiences of one’s body have for the older person. I will then argue that, despite the fact that the older person’s body often undergoes a physical decline, one’s possible personal flourishing in old age does not exclude the bodily dimension, but can reverberate positively in it, giving room to bright new experiences of one’s embodied personal life.