In philosophy of medicine, interest in aging or senescence has mostly been framed in one of two ways: The theoretical question, raising whether or not aging is a disease, and the normative question on whether we should find a treatment for aging. In this presentation, I will explore a related issue that precedes and could inform both debates, namely whether aging is treatable.
By focusing a case study of the murine literature on a drug called rapamycin, I discuss various criteria used for detecting ‘geroprotection’ in biogerontology: Lifespan extension, disease prevention, healthspan promotion, genericity of the effect and action on plausible mechanisms of aging.
I argue that targeting a plausible mechanism of aging would provide definitional criteria for treating aging, whereas that the remaining criteria at best can be considered detection criteria, indicating that that geroprotective effects are likely, but not conclusive.