Ivan Illich — Philosopher and Demystifier of Modernity

The study examines biographical aspects of the work of the Austrian- Mexican philosopher and Catholic theologian Ivan Illich in conjunction with his ideas of criticism of the modern era. Contrary to many authors believing the New Age is a stage in the development of mankind, within which the final separation of the secular and the ecclesiastical occurred, Ivan Illich suggests considering modern Western society as a society that exists in an environment of historically distorted revelations received initially by the Christian community. Illich himself described a similar process of institutionalization and distortion with the Latin catch phrase ‘corruptio optimi pessima’, i. e. “the decay of the best is the worst”. However, according to the philosopher, this logic of negative institutionalization narrowing the space of alternatives as history progresses is initially an integral part of Christian history, and not a phenomenon alien to it. Nevertheless, Illich does not deny the existence of ways to reverse the processes of forming dictatorship of social institutions. Following neo- Thomists who were ideologically close to him, he sees opportunities for change in turning to the origins of modernity, which belong to the times of the Middle Ages.