The hallmarks of aging: how science organizes without consensus

Three decades of aging research reveal an uncomfortable paradox: the field advances rapidly, yet without agreement on what aging fundamentally is or how to treat it. The Hallmarks of Aging, a conceptual framework describing cellular manifestations and mechanisms of aging, emerged as the dominant taxonomy in contemporary geroscience—not by resolving the foundational debate, but by structuring it. Through philosophical analysis of how scientific paradigms evolve, researchers identified that the Hallmarks function less as unifying theory and more as a «stabilized trading zone» (in Galison's terms): a pragmatic device enabling scientific communities with deep disagreements to collaborate and define which problems merit investigation. The recent catalogue of 100 open questions in the field reflects this precisely: many are formulated within the conceptual space the Hallmarks helped stabilize, not outside it. For readers interested in longevity, this means advances in anti-aging therapies need not await resolution of theoretical wars between schools. Rather, progress depends on how science practices deliberate coordination under uncertainty.