Aging And Time ─ Multidisciplinary Perspectives

Conventional wisdom and research on aging overemphasize chronological or external time, according to Baars (interpretive gerontology, U. for Humanist Studies, Utrecht; philosophy of the social sciences and humanities, Tilburg U., the Netherlands) and Visser (emeritus, philosophy, Maastricht U., the Netherlands). Along with psychologists, a physicist, and a bioengineer, they deconstruct major theories and empirical data on chronological and psychological time toward a better understanding of time as it relates to conceptualizing and studying aging. The physicist treats aging from a "gerodynamic," intrinsic time approach. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

ABOUT THE EDITORS Jan Baars, Ph.D., studied sociology and philosophy in Amsterdam and is Professor of Interpretive Gerontology at the University for Humanist Studies in Utrecht and Professor of Philosophy of the Social Sciences and the Humanities at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. He has published and (co-)edited a dozen books and published many articles on philosophical and gerontological subjects, in English, German, French, Finnish, and Dutch. His main interests are the theoretical and practical presuppositions in approaches to aging, especially concepts of time and temporality. Dr. Baars has lectured at many universities in Europe and the United States and is co-editor of Aging, Globalization and Inequality: The New Critical Gerontology (Baywood, 2005).Henk Visser, Ph.D., became Emeritus Professor at the University Maastricht in 2005. In his professional life he taught mathematics, analytic philosophy, philosophy of the information sciences, and philosophy of science. His systematic research focused on productive problem solving; his historical research concerned the development of scientific philosophy and scientific humanism. One of his more recent works is Het Forumwaarmerk van Wetenschap (The Forum Theory of Scientific Truth), written with the psychologist A. D. de Groot. Since 1998 Dr. Visser has been president of the Evert Willem Beth Foundation in Amsterdam.