Plato's Theory of Late Life Reminiscence

Abstract

Plato was a careful observer of the life review process and regarded it as an important source of philosophical insight. In several dialogues he presented a penetrating theory of late life reminiscence, anticipating much of what gerontologists now know about it. His treatment differs from recent approaches to life review by engaging epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues that this process implies. Exploring these philosophical issues through the eyes of the elderly Socrates, Plato articulates the subtle logical form characterizing certain life review judgments, arguing that they are based on a crucially important “retroactive” constitution of certain moral properties.