This paper, which is based upon and interdisciplinary discussion of the subject by members of the Geriatrics Division of the G.D.R. Society of Gerontology, deals with questions concerning the elaboration of standards of diagnosis in geriatrics. In addition to general considerations, the author discusses a number of those problems which general practitioners and specialists in internal medicine usually come up against. Complete solutions cannot, in the present state of development, be offered. Rather, efforts are being made to invite experts, by the raising of questions, to further discuss the whole subject in order to arrive at definite rules of specific diagnosis by drawing on as wide a range of experience, findings, and information as possible.