Sign-In
Cart
The Ageing Question: : Law, Ethics, and the Global Struggle for Dignity
Paperback
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Oct 17 2025
Pages: 350
Weight: 1.03
Height: 0.78 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
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.
Also from
Bennett, Alan
Governance for AI: Professional Responsibility, Risk, and Accountability
Bennett, Jeffrey
Bennett, Alan
James, Rayden
Paperback
The Reformation of Global Trade: Economic Nationalism, Governance and Tariffs
Bennett, Alan
Paperback
Judgment Without Certainty: Why Human Responsibility Survives Systems, Science, and AI
Bennett, Alan
Paperback
Rewriting the Rules of Global Trade: Tariffs, Power and Reform in a Fragmented World
Bennett, Alan
Paperback
Consciousness Theories Explained: Philosophy, Neuroscience, Quantum Proposals and Artificial Intelligence.
Bennett, Alan
Paperback
Judgment in the Age of AI: Systems, Responsibility, and Human Decision-Making
Bennett, Alan
Paperback
Also in
Philosophy
Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea
Hunt-Hendrix, Leah
Taylor, Astra
Hardcover
In the Beginning Was the Deed: Realism and Moralism in Political Argument
Williams, Bernard
Paperback
The American Indian Mind in a Linear World: American Indian Studies and Traditional Knowledge
Fixico, Donald Lee
Paperback
Dreaming of Cinema: Spectatorship, Surrealism, and the Age of Digital Media
Lowenstein, Adam
Paperback
Machine Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm: Spiritual Freedom and the Re-Animation of Matter
Lafitte, Luke
Paperback
The Sociogony: Social Facts and the Ontology of Objects, Things, and Monsters
Worrell, Mark P.
Paperback
On Quality: An Inquiry Into Excellence: Unpublished and Selected Writings
Pirsig, Robert M.
Pirsig, Wendy K.
Hardcover
The Electromagnetic Brain: Em Field Theories on the Nature of Consciousness
Joye, Shelli Renée
Paperback
Philosophy in Turbulent Times: Canguilhem, Sartre, Foucault, Althusser, Deleuze, Derrida
Roudinesco, Elisabeth
Paperback
The New Science of Giambattista Vico: Unabridged Translation of the Third Edition (1744) with the Addition of Practic of the New Science
Vico, Giambattista
Paperback
The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy
Giridharadas, Anand
Hardcover
The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance
Gottlieb, Anthony
Paperback
The Modes of Scepticism: Ancient Texts and Modern Interpretations
Julia, Annas
Annas, Julia
Barnes, Jonathan
Paperback
Friendship and Society: An Introduction to Augustine's Practical Philosophy
Burt, Donald X.
Paperback
Suffering and the Search for Meaning: Contemporary Responses to the Problem of Pain
Rice, Richard
Paperback
Essays V2: Moral And Entertaining On The Various Faculties And Passions Of The Human Mind (1815)
Clarendon, Edward Hyde Earl of
Paperback
The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
Holiday, Ryan
Hanselman, Stephen
Hardcover
The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us
Goldstein, Rebecca Newberger
Hardcover
The Obstacle Is the Way Expanded 10th Anniversary Edition: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials Into Triumph
Holiday, Ryan
Hardcover
Self-Help from the Middle Ages: What the Seven Deadly Sins Can Teach Us about Living
Jones, Peter
Hardcover
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Paperback
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Fifth Anniversary Limited Edition: The Global Bestseller
Mackesy, Charlie
Hardcover
Bless & Release: The physics of letting go-and wanting what's meant for you.
Laporte, Danielle
Paperback
The Ethical Slut, Third Edition: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships, and Other Freedoms in Sex and Love
Hardy, Janet W.
Easton, Dossie
Paperback
Eight Million Ways to Happiness: Wisdom for Inspiration and Healing from the Heart of Japan
Yoda, Hiroko
Hardcover
Self-Reliance and Nature: The Complete First and Second Series of Emerson's Essays
Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Hardcover