Epistemological challenges of biography to research with older adults Desafíos epistemológicos de la biografía a la investigación con adultos mayores

Abstract

This article contains some reflections on the biography as a suitable method for conducting research with older adults, starting with the experience of the course “Énfasis en Biografía y Sentido Vital” of the School of Psychology at the Universidad Javeriana. Biographies allow to personalize knowledge, to adequately respond to the characteristics of old age and to the ethical demands considering the sense of life as a hermeneutic horizon. By doing so the western objectivist paradigm is questioned and a sujetual paradigm is proposed, in tune with the knowledge of the elder who admit the contradiction and are sensitive to the context.