Portrait of Ivan Illich
Left · Thinker or writer · From history

Ivan Illich

Austrian philosopher and priest, 1926 to 2002

See how Austria compares →

Criticized schools, medicine and cars in books such as Deschooling Society, arguing that institutions and technologies beyond a human scale disable people.

Ivan Illich sits in the left-libertarian part of the Caucus economy and liberty compass: leaning state-led and strongly libertarian. The clearest positions are strongly tech-cautious on technology, strongly libertarian on liberty and authority and strongly nature-first on environment.

Read more about Ivan Illich on Wikipedia →

Where Ivan Illich sits on ten dimensions

Each scale runs from one pole to the other, and the dot shows the overall tendency of this person's record and public life. These are simplified estimates and open to debate.

💰EconomyLeaning state-led
State-ledFree market
⚖️Liberty and authorityStrongly libertarian
LibertarianAuthoritarian
🎭CultureSlightly progressive
ProgressiveTraditional
🌍NationLeaning globalist
GlobalistNationalist
🌱EnvironmentStrongly nature-first
Growth-firstNature-first
🤖TechnologyStrongly tech-cautious
Tech-cautiousTech-optimist
🕊️War and peaceLeaning peace-first
Peace-firstStrength-first
🏛️InstitutionsStrongly anti-establishment
Anti-establishmentInstitutional
🙏ReligionLeaning religious
SecularReligious
🛡️InterventionismLeaning non-interventionist
Non-interventionistInterventionist

People most like Ivan Illich

Henry David Thoreau American essayist and naturalist, 1817 to 186297%Jacques Ellul French sociologist and Christian anarchist, 1912 to 199497%Laozi Chinese sage, c. 6th century BCE97%Vandana Shiva Indian environmental activist96%Rigoberta Menchú Guatemalan Indigenous rights activist96%E. F. Schumacher German-British economist, 1911 to 197795%Shoshana Zuboff American scholar and author95%Mahatma Gandhi Leader of the Indian independence movement94%

People furthest from Ivan Illich

Joseph Stalin Soviet leader, 1920s to 19532%Louis XIV King of France, 1643 to 17153%Adolf Hitler Chancellor and Führer of Germany, 1933 to 19453%Benito Mussolini Prime Minister of Italy, 1922 to 19433%

Political views closest to Ivan Illich

Anarcho-primitivismRejects civilization, agriculture and industry and favors a return to hunter-gatherer…97%Deep ecologyGives nature value in itself and calls for a radical reduction of human impact.96%Neo-LuddismResists industrial and digital technology that is seen to erode community, work and…95%EcofeminismLinks the domination of women and the domination of nature, and calls for care,…94%

Read more about Ivan Illich

These links open book searches on Amazon. If you buy through them, Caucus earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. They have no influence on where anyone is placed on the map.

Biographies of Ivan IllichBooks on anarcho-primitivism

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Percentages show how close two profiles are across all ten dimensions. Including a person here is for study and comparison, not approval. Portrait: Associated Press, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; see all photo credits.