3 ms·

For those interested, Ivan Illich wrote a series of books criticizing the modern approach to healthcare, education, transportation, gender etc. from a perspecti

For those interested, Ivan Illich wrote a series of books criticizing the modern approach to healthcare, education, transportation, gender etc. from a perspective that might be called "degrowth" today. A great introductory essay on Illich (https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2022/05/the-corruption-of-the-best-on-ivan-illich/ https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2022/05/the-corruption-of...) was published recently in American Affairs. In my experience, the power of a single personality passionately committed to an idea is usually a better introduction than an academic survey article. Illich was a radical and none of his ideas come with batteries included, but exploring his ideaspace was an invigorating experience for someone who had hitherto only pitched his tent in the libertarian technocapitalist suburbs of the mind.

specialist 4y ago
Thanks. Added Illich to my reading list (backlog). I generally like American Affairs. Though I'm exhausted by the left vs right slap fight. IMHO, anarchism and liberation theology are intrinsically outside of left vs right, liberal vs reactionary; they reject those dichotomies, and are better understood as criticism of the establishment and power structures. In other words, to an anarchist, there's little difference between the political philosophies of Liberal and Conservative, little difference between Catholics and Protestant. Rather, it's about speaking up for the weakest. Skim reading Illich's wiki, I would agree that he's a "radical", and that his contemporarous critics mislabeling him a "reactionary" is kinda proving his point. Today, you see the same kind of pushback against David Graeber and David Wengrow.
- ggpsv 4y ago
  I'm halfway through "The Dawn of Everything" to understand the reference on heterodoxy associated to Graeber and Wengrow. What sort of pushback are you seeing?
  - specialist 4y ago
    One example was Brad de Long trolling Graeber; nitpicking over errata while ignoring Debt's thesis and open questions.
- sudosysgen 4y ago
  Anarchism is pretty clearly a far left ideology (and the oldest one)
ggpsv 4y ago
Thank you for sharing. I've had "Deschooling Society" in the backlog for some time now and this was a good foreword to some of Illich's ideas. This, however, is the first time I see someone mention a link between degrowth and Illich's vision. The connection makes sense at a glance, having also read some of the most outspoken degrowth proponents.

specialist 4y ago

Thanks. Added Illich to my reading list (backlog). I generally like American Affairs. Though I'm exhausted by the left vs right slap fight. IMHO, anarchism and liberation theology are intrinsically outside of left vs right, liberal vs reactionary; they reject those dichotomies, and are better understood as criticism of the establishment and power structures. In other words, to an anarchist, there's little difference between the political philosophies of Liberal and Conservative, little difference between Catholics and Protestant. Rather, it's about speaking up for the weakest. Skim reading Illich's wiki, I would agree that he's a "radical", and that his contemporarous critics mislabeling him a "reactionary" is kinda proving his point. Today, you see the same kind of pushback against David Graeber and David Wengrow.

ggpsv 4y ago
I'm halfway through "The Dawn of Everything" to understand the reference on heterodoxy associated to Graeber and Wengrow. What sort of pushback are you seeing?
- specialist 4y ago
  One example was Brad de Long trolling Graeber; nitpicking over errata while ignoring Debt's thesis and open questions.
sudosysgen 4y ago
Anarchism is pretty clearly a far left ideology (and the oldest one)

ggpsv 4y ago

Thank you for sharing. I've had "Deschooling Society" in the backlog for some time now and this was a good foreword to some of Illich's ideas. This, however, is the first time I see someone mention a link between degrowth and Illich's vision. The connection makes sense at a glance, having also read some of the most outspoken degrowth proponents.