Philosophical and cultural views on aging and their relevance to date

Somebody could wonder then why this controversy surrounding the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) topic if the scientific evidence are here.

Aging is an evolutional process that begun with the origination of life almost 3.5 billion years ago. Aging per se is open to many definitions. Two of these very interesting opinions from ancient times philosophers, which are reflecting different view regarding nature of aging, with some relevance until very recently, are presented below.

The death that comes in old age is painless, for the aged die without any violent affection befalling them, and the parting of their soul is quite unfelt.
(Aristotle, On Respiration)

Yet it may be urged, many old men are so feeble that they can perform no function that duty or indeed any position in life demands. True, but that is not peculiar to old age: generally it is characteristic of ill health….Old age is an incurable disease.
(Cicero, De Senecture)

Although beautifully expressed the above statements have only a historic value today rather than a scientific one. Thus, the view that a single gene or a decline in a key body system could explain the aging process has been abandoned as it is now recognised that aging is a very complex multifactorial process. The theories of aging were presented as evolutionary, molecular, cellular and systemic. Most of the researchers in the field would agree that there is not a single theory, which could completely explain the aging process and may require the integration of many of the theories displayed before. It appears that the free radical theory and more specifically the mitochondrial oxidative damage, may indeed explain many of the changes in muscle mass and function, which occur with aging.

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