David Cayley - The Life and Times of Ivan Illich

We speak about the idea of Conviviality, what it means to organize society around our shared humanity instead of endless optimization functions, and Illich’s position on education, participatory democracy, and medical harm. We also speculate on what Illich would have made of the response to Covid. We also cover the growing influence of NGOs, the concept of Gender and centralization as an important axis in Illich’s thought.

For over thirty years, David Cayley worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, creating interview and documentary programs. The first of these also became the book Ivan Illich in Conversation, which remains an excellent introduction to Illich’s thought. The second became Rivers North of the Future, and his latest book is Ivan Illich - An Intellectual Journey.