ABSTRACT
In Setting Limits, Daniel Callahan embarks on a reconstruction of aging proceeding from a "societal perspective" (Callahan, 1987, pp. 28-29). Callahan rejects modernizing theories of aging that encourage the fulfillment of individual needs and pursuit of per sonal development. He argues instead that the "meaning of the aged"1 must be recast in terms of self-sacrifice, particularly to younger generations. If this reconstruction were to emerge as a pro duct of social consensus, Callahan argues, two intractable social problems could be resolved. First, the impending collapse of the health care economy could be forestalled by diminishing the demands on the system placed by the acute and chronic health care problems of the elderly. Callahan argues that a health care system which redistributes resources to meet the pressing needs of the young and the poor would better exemplify intergenerational justice. Second, personal and social crises resulting from the absence of a
Kathleen Marie Dixon, Ph.D., Philosophy and Women's Studies, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio 43403-02,22, USA.
