Simone de Beauvoir’s last philosophical study was dedicated to the issue of age. In this study, Beauvoir radically demands for shattering the silence over the issue of age. She aims to describe old age as a whole. She prefers the perspective of lived experience. It becomes evident that old age must be taken seriously not solely as a biological, but also as a cultural fact. She asks: “What should a society be, so that in her/his last years the human being might still be a human being?” She responds: “The answer is simple: she/he would always have to been treated as a human being.”

While Simone de Beauvoir’s main study, The Second Sex (1949) as well as her literary works and other philosophical works such as The Ethics of Ambiguity, have earned much academic attention, her philosophical study on The Coming of Age (1970) is still widely unexplored in the academic field. For this reason the conference focuses on this study.

In particular, the international conference intends to focus on the philosophical, feminist and social implications of this work. Highly qualified international Beauvoir experts and feminist philosophers were invited to reflect upon and to discuss in detail Beauvoir’s study, The Coming of Age, at the conference in Vienna.

Invited speakers include Debra Bergoffen (George Mason University, USA), Penelope Deutscher (Northwestern University, USA), Helen Fielding (The University of Western Ontario, Canada), Sara Heinämaa (Helsinki University, Finland), Sonia Kruks (Oberlin College, USA), Dorothea Olkowski (University of Colorado, USA), Christina Schües (University of Vechta, Germany), and Gail Weiss (The George Washington University, USA) among others. For lively discussions, 10 other international experts from Austria and abroad will respond to the speakers.

The following issues will be addressed:

    * What is the philosophical contribution of Simone de Beauvoir’s The Coming of Age?
    * What are the feminist implications of Beauvoir’s insights into aging?
    * How can Beauvoir’s study contribute to contemporary issues on aging?

The conference on the occasion of Simone de Beauvoir’s 100th birth would further like to enlarge the scientific view upon Beauvoir’s considerable research. The conference Age/Aging will contribute both to the philosophical research on Simone de Beauvoir, as well as to the increasing interdisciplinary studies on aging.

Silvia Stoller
(University of Vienna)