Ivan Illich

(1926-2002)

Ivan Illich was born in Vienna in 1926, and lived in various countries of Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and in the United States. He published several books, in each of which an attentive reader can find insights and arguments that speak directly to the interests and issues facing individuals living in Oakland today.

Some persons are moved to ask: What is my basic stance? and, How do I move in the world? Illich addresses such questions in different writings, for example, in the essay, "The Rebirth of Epimethean Man" (published in Deschooling Society), and in the book, Gender.

Others are concerned with questions of the public good, sometimes labeled as "public policy." Proposals far outside mainline opinion on such matters are discussed in Energy and Equity, Tools for Conviviality, and H₂O and the Waters of Forgetfulness.

One can still be interested in the possibility of reading. Illich commented on an historical mode of reading that is, in effect, a mode of living, in his book, In the Vineyard of the Text. This book also raises questions associated with the appearance of the text as such that emerge from a study of print technology.

Throughout many of his books and essays he conceptualizes historically, and then analyzes in terms intelligible to contemporary inquirers, the dimensions of space: for example, he takes up the notion of commons, gendered space, social space, and the space of silence.

Later in his life, he devoted himself principally to a study of proportionality; he sought the sources of this concept and experience in areas such as architecture, music, the lived body, medicine, and Revelation. He was convinced that, as a gendered society was once definitively broken, so the sense of proportion was similarly lost.

Readers have discovered that he was precariously rooted in the foundation traditions of western sensibility and thought. This position and the living out of his personal vocation give his speech and writing a definite character: His expression often revealed an apophatic cast that reaches back at least to Pseudo-Dioynsius.

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

Selected Bibliography

• Illich, Ivan (1980): "The De-Linking of Peace and Development."
  Opening address on the occasion of the first meeting of the Asian Peace Research Association, Yokohama, 1st. December 1980, in: Ivan Illich: In the Mirror of the Past. Lectures and Addresses 1978-1990. New York / London: Marion Boyars Publishers 1992, p.15-26.
• Illich, Ivan (1987): "Hospitality and Pain."
  This paper was presented in Chicago 1987, at the invitation of David Ramage of McCormick Theological Seminary. To be published.
• Illich, Ivan (1988): "The Educational Enterprise in the Light of the Gospel."
  Talk given in Fall, 1988, in Chicago. To be published.
• Illich, Ivan (1989): "Posthumous Longevity."
  An open letter to a community of cloistered Benedictine nuns, written in 1989.
• Illich, Ivan (1990): "Declaration on Soil".
  A joint statement, drafted in Hebenshausen, Germany, December 6, 1990, in collaboration with Sigmar Groeneveld, Lee Hoinacki and other friends."
  Im Deutschen: "Declaration on Soil. Übersetzung ins Deutsche von Bernhard Heindl."
• Illich, Ivan (1990): "Gesundheit in eigener Verantwortung: Danke, nein!"
  Vortrag anläßlich des Internationalen Kongresses "Gesundheit in eigener Verantwortung - Mensch - Medizin - Gesellschaft" vom 10.-14. September 1990
  Veröffentlicht in: Jork, Klaus u.a. (Hrsg.) (1991): Was macht den Menschen krank? 18 kritische Analysen (Vorträge anläßlich des Kongresses). Basel, Boston, Berlin: Birkhäuser
  Und in: Universitas 5 (1991), S.490-496
• Illich, Ivan (1990): "Health as one's own responsibility: no, thank you!."
  Based on a speech given in Hannover, Germany, September 14, 1990. Translated from the German by Jutta Mason.
• Illich, Ivan (1990): "The Loudspeaker on the Tower."
  To be published.
• Illich, Ivan (1990): "Needs"
  in: Wolfgang Sachs (Ed.): The Development Dictionary. A Guide to Knowledge as Power. London / New Jersey: Zed Books Ltd 1992, S.88-101.
  Deutsch als "Bedürfnisse" in: Wofgang Sachs (Hg.): Wie im Westen so auf Erden. Ein polemisches Handbuch zur Entwicklungspolitik. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt 1993 (Handbuch; 6343), S.47-70.
  Italienisch als "Bisogni" in: Wolfgang Sachs (a cura di): Dizionario dello sviluppo. Torino: Edizioni Gruppo Abele 1998 (Altrisaggi; 44), 61-83.
• Illich, Ivan (1991): "Text und Universität. Zur Idee und Geschichte einer einzigartigen Institution."
  Festvortrag gehalten am 15. Oktober 1991in der Oberen Halle des Alten Rathauses zu Bremen.
• Illich, Ivan (1991): "Text and University - on the idea and history of a unique institution."
  A translation by Lee Hoinacki of the keynote address delivered at the Bremen Rathaus, September 23, 1991, on the occasion of the twentieth aniversary of the founding of the University of Bremen.
• Illich, Ivan (1993): "'Lectio divina'"
  in: Forschungshefte 13: Frömmigkeit - Lenz Kriss-Rettenbeck zum 70. Geburtstag. Hg. vom Bayerischen Nationalmuseum München. Sonderdruck. München: Deutscher Kunstverlag 1993, 13-26.
• Illich, Ivan (1993): "To Honor Jacques Ellul."
  Based on an address given at Bordeaux, November 13, 1993.
• Illich, Ivan (1994): "Pathogenesis, Immunity and the Quality of Public Health."
  Based on a Talk given to the Qualitative Health Research Conference in Hershey, Pennsylvania, June 11, 1994.
• Illich, Ivan (1995): "Die Askese des Blicks im Zeitaler der Show - INTERFACE",
  in: Klaus Peter Dencker (Hg.): Weltbilder, Bildwelten. Computergestützte Visionen. Hamburg: Verlag Hans Bredow Institut 1995, S.206-222. Aus dem Englischen übersetzt von Barbara Duden.
  English: (1995): "Guarding the Eye in the Age of the Show."
• Illich, Ivan (1995): "Death Undefeated."
  A version of this essay was published in: The British Medical Journal (23-30 Dec. 1995)
• Illich, Ivan (1996): "Philosophy...Artifacts...Friendship."
  Presentation given to The American Catholic Philosophical Association at their annual meeting in Los Angeles, California, March 23, 1996.
• Illich, Ivan (1997): "Homo educandus lost. Education and Technology: Asking the Right Questions
  (17.-20.9.1997), State College, 20. Sept. 1997."
• Illich, Ivan (1997): "The Immorality of Bioethics".
  Deans Lecture Manuscript, State Colege, 7. Sep. 1997."
• Illich, Ivan (1997): "Philosophische Ursprünge der grenzenlosen Zivilisation", in: Ernst-Ulrich von Weizsäcker (Hg.): Grenzenlos. Basel / Boston / Berlin: Birkenhäuser 1997, S.202-211.
• Illich, Ivan (1998): "Das Geschenk der conspiratio."
  Ivan Illich an Johannes Beck zum Sechzigsten Geburtstag. Eine erweiterte Version des Vortrages in Villa Ichon am 14. März 1998 anläßlich der Verleihung des Kultur- und Friedenspreises.
  In English: "The Cultivation of Conspiracy."
  A translated, edited and expanded version of an address given by Ivan Illich at the Vila Ichon in Bremen, Germany, on the occasion of receiving the Culture and Peace Prize of Bremen, March 14, 1998.
• Illich, Ivan (1998): "And do not lead us into diagnosis, but deliver us of the pursuit of health."
  Bologna, October 24th 1998, English Version of the Opening Lecture of the symposium on 'Salute e Malattia'.
  En Francais: "Ne nous laissez pas succomber au diagnostic, mais délivrez-nous des maux de la santé."
  'Lezione magistrale' dÍvan Illich au Syposium de Bologne: 'Maladie et santé comme métaphore sociale', 25 au 28 octobre 1998.
  In Italiano: "Non indurci in diagnosi, ma liberarci dai mali della salute."
  Lezione di Ivan Illich nel Simposio di Bologna il 25. Ottobre 1998.
• Illich, Ivan (1998): "Und führe uns nicht in die Diagnose, sondern erlöse uns von dem Streben nach Gesundheit."
  Bologna, 24. Oktober 1998. Eröffnungsvortrag auf dem Symposium 'Gesundheit Krankheit - Metaphern des Lebens und der Gesellschaft.
• Illich, Ivan (1998): "The Shadow that the Future Throws."
• Illich, Ivan and Matthias Rieger (1996): "The Wisdom of Leopold Kohr."
• Illich, Ivan; Matthias Rieger and Sebastian Trapp (1996): "Speed? What Speed? New versions of the speeches given at the 'Speed'-Conference of the Netherlands-Design-Institute, Amsterdam, 8. Nov. 1996."
• Illich, Ivan and Jean Robert (1992): "Ein Entmächtigungsgesetz für Straßenbauer: Ein machbares Märchen?"
• Beck, Johannes; Ivan Illich und Silja Samerski (1999): "Der verhältnismäßige Mensch"
  European Conference "Lifelong Learning - Inside and Outside Schools"
  25. - 27. February 1999, University of Bremen.
• Beck, Johannes; Ivan Illich und Silja Samerski (1999): "The Conditional Human"
  European Conference "Lifelong Learning - Inside and Outside Schools"
  25. - 27. February 1999, University of Bremen.
  

Ivan Illich's Talk

Back to Oakland Table