The Challenges of Ivan Illich
A Collective Reflection
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Original essays explore the thought and influence of philosopher, educator, social critic, and theologian Ivan Illich.
Description
This unique collection examines the man Utne Reader has called "the greatest social critic of the twentieth century. " The essays—all by people Illich has influenced personally—discuss how his life and thought have affected conceptualization, study, and practice of psychotherapy, notions about education, ideas concerning the historical development of the text, perceptions of technology, as well as other topics. All of Illich's books are discussed and his ideas on education, theology, technology, anarchism, and society are examined in relationship to those of René Girard, Karl Polanyi, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jacques Ellul. Illich's previously unpublished paper offering a new view of conspiracy in European history is included.
Lee Hoinacki is an independent scholar in residence at St. Malachy's, Philadelphia, and the author of El Camino: Walking to Santiago de Compostela; Stumbling Toward Justice: Stories of Place; and Dying Is Not Death. Carl Mitcham is Professor of Liberal Arts and International Studies at the Colorado School of Mines and author of Thinking through Technology: The Path between Engineering and Philosophy and other works of critical reflection on science and technology.
Reviews
"…highly recommend[ed] … to all those who have been challenged by Illich's writing over the years, and to anyone who would like to be introduced to the works of someone whose friends so appreciated being challenged by his words and deeds that they published a book in his honour even before he died. " — Environments
"This is an excellent summary of how the life and ideas of Ivan Illich, one of the most iconoclastic and brilliant public intellectuals of the twentieth century, influenced the lives and careers of important philosophers, scholars, and social activists. The personal narratives illuminate the impact of Illich's ideas in the spheres of religion, education, and grassroots social movements. " — Robert F. Arnove, coeditor of Comparative Education: The Dialectic of the Global and the Local