Ivan Illich facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Reverend Monsignor Ivan Illich
Born	Ivan Dominic Illich (1926-09-04)September 4, 1926 Vienna, Austria
Died	December 2, 2002(2002-12-02) (aged 76) Bremen, Germany
Era	Contemporary philosophy
Region	Western philosophy
School	Catholicism
Main interests	Philosophy of education philosophy of technology
Influences Paul Goodman Arnold J. Toynbee Everett Reimer Jacques Maritain Leopold Kohr Jacques Ellul Hugh of Saint Victor Michel Foucault Emmanuel Levinas
Influenced Everett Reimer André Gorz Lee Felsenstein Wolfgang Sachs Kevin Carson Bob Black John Zerzan Charles Taylor Barry Sanders Giorgio Agamben

Ivan Dominic Illich (/ɪˌvɑːn ˈɪlɪtʃ/ iv-AHN-_-IL-itch, German: [ˈiːvan ˈɪlɪtʃ]; 4 September 1926 – 2 December 2002) was an important thinker from Austria. He was a Roman Catholic priest, a theologian (someone who studies religion), a philosopher (someone who thinks deeply about life), and a social critic (someone who points out problems in society).

He wrote famous books that questioned how modern society works. For example, his 1971 book Deschooling Society criticized how schools are set up. He thought that learning shouldn't be limited to just classrooms for a short part of your life. His 1975 book Medical Nemesis looked at how modern medicine can sometimes cause more problems than it solves, making people too dependent on doctors. Illich saw himself as "an errant pilgrim," meaning a traveler who was always searching and questioning.

Biography

Early Life and Studies

Ivan Dominic Illich was born in Vienna, Austria, on September 4, 1926. His father was a civil engineer and diplomat from a Catholic family in Dalmatia. His mother came from a Jewish family that had become Christian.

In 1942, Ivan, his mother, and his two younger brothers moved from Vienna to Florence, Italy. They were escaping the Nazi persecution of Jewish people. Ivan finished high school in Florence.

He then studied histology (the study of tissues) and crystallography (the study of crystals) at the University of Florence. After World War II, he hoped to return to Austria. He studied medieval history at the University of Salzburg. Later, he studied theology and philosophy in Rome to become a Catholic priest. He became a priest in 1951.

Work in the Americas

Ivan Illich was a polyglot, meaning he spoke many languages fluently. These included Italian, Spanish, French, German, Croatian, Ancient Greek, Latin, Portuguese, Hindi, and English.

After becoming a priest, he worked in Washington Heights, Manhattan, a poor neighborhood in New York. Many new Puerto Rican immigrants lived there. In 1956, at age 30, he became vice rector of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico.

In Puerto Rico, Illich met Everett Reimer. They both started to think critically about their roles as "educational" leaders. In 1959, Illich traveled through South America.

Illich later moved to Cuernavaca, Mexico. In 1961, he started the Center of Intercultural Formation (CIF). This center was first meant to train missionaries. It later became the Centro Intercultural de Documentación (CIDOC).

CIDOC was a research center that offered language courses. It also became a place for thinkers from all over the Americas to discuss ideas. Illich wanted to help missionaries understand other cultures better. He taught them not to force their own cultural values on others.

After ten years, CIDOC's critical views caused problems with the Vatican. Illich decided to stop being an active priest in the late 1960s. However, he still considered himself a priest and sometimes held private religious services. In 1976, Illich closed CIDOC.

In the 1980s and later, Illich traveled a lot. He taught at Penn State in the United States. He also taught at the University of Bremen and University of Hagen in Germany.

Personality

Ivan Illich called himself "an errant pilgrim." He also said he was "a wandering Jew and a Christian pilgrim." He often mentioned his roots in Dalmatia. He once said that he never truly had a home after leaving his grandparents' old house on the island of Brač.

Death

Ivan Illich died on December 2, 2002, in Bremen, Germany.

Influence and Ideas

Ivan Illich was very influential among thinkers and academics. He became known around the world for his strong ideas about how human culture could be kept alive and grow. He believed this was important when modern society seemed to be making things less human.

In his books, he argued that using too much modern technology and social systems can harm human values. He thought it could reduce people's ability to be self-sufficient, free, and dignified. His strong criticisms of mass education and modern mass medicine were especially important.

His first book, Deschooling Society, published in 1971, was a major critique of mandatory mass education. He believed that the school system was too controlling and couldn't be fixed. He thought it needed to be changed so people could learn freely.

In Medical Nemesis, Illich argued that health is about being able to deal with the normal human experiences of death, pain, and sickness. He felt that modern medicine had gone too far. He believed it was trying to completely get rid of death, pain, and sickness. By doing this, he thought it turned people into dependent "consumers" of medical services.

The Dark Mountain Project, a group that explores new ways of thinking about modern society, was inspired by Ivan Illich's ideas.

List of works

• Die philosophischen Grundlagen der Geschichtsschreibung bei Arnold J. Toynbee. Salzburg: Diss.. 1951.
• Illich, Ivan (1971). Celebration of Awareness. ISBN 978-0-7145-0837-5.
• Illich, Iván (1971). Deschooling Society. ISBN 978-0-06-012139-6. https://archive.org/details/deschoolingsocie44illi.
• Illich, Ivan (1973). Tools for Conviviality. ISBN 978-0-06-080308-7.
• Illich, Ivan (1974). Energy and Equity. ISBN 978-0-06-080327-8.
• Medical Nemesis. London: Calder & Boyars. 1974. ISBN 978-0-7145-1096-5. OCLC 224760852. https://archive.org/details/medicalnemesisex00illirich.
• Illich, Ivan (1975). Medical Nemesis. ISBN 978-0-394-71245-1.
• Illich, Ivan (1978). The Right to Useful Unemployment. ISBN 978-0-7145-2628-7.
• Illich, Ivan (1978). Toward a History of Needs. ISBN 978-0-394-41040-1. https://archive.org/details/towardhistoryofn00illi.
• Illich, Ivan (1981). Shadow Work. ISBN 978-0-7145-2711-6. https://archive.org/details/shadowwork0000illi.
• Illich, Ivan (1982). Gender. ISBN 978-0-394-52732-1. https://archive.org/details/gender00illirich.
• Illich, Ivan (1985). H₂O and the Waters of Forgetfulness. ISBN 978-0-911005-06-6.
• Illich, Ivan; Sanders, Barry (1988). ABC: The Alphabetization of the Popular Mind. ISBN 978-0-86547-291-4. https://archive.org/details/abcalphabetizati00illi_0. Coauthored with Barry Sanders
• Illich, Ivan (1992). In the Mirror of the Past. ISBN 978-0-7145-2937-0. https://archive.org/details/inmirrorofpast00illi.
• Illich, Ivan (1993). In the Vineyard of the Text: A Commentary to Hugh's Didascalicon. ISBN 978-0-226-37235-8.
• Blasphemy: A Radical Critique of Our Technological Culture. We the People. Morristown, NJ: Aaron Press. July 1995. ISBN 978-1-882206-02-5.
• interviews with David Cayley, ed. (1992). Ivan Illich in Conversation. Toronto: House of Anansi Press.
• The Rivers North of the Future - The Testament of Ivan Illich as told to David Cayley. Toronto: House of Anansi Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-88784-714-1. https://archive.org/details/riversnorthoffut0000illi.
• David Cayley, ed. (2000). Corruption of Christianity. ISBN 978-0-660-18099-1.
• Disoccupazione creativa (Creative Disoccupation), Italy, Italian, 1977
• Illich, Ivan (2013). Beyond Economics and Ecology. ISBN 978-0-714531-58-8.: Edited by Prof Sajay Samuel

Honours and Awards

• Culture and Peace Prize of the Villa Ichon in Bremen (1998)

See also

In Spanish: Iván Illich para niños

• Credentialism
• Critical pedagogy
• Critique of technology
• Degrowth
• Development criticism
• Ecopedagogy
• Free software movement
• Holistic education
• Open Source Ecology
• Shadow work