David Cayley on Illich and Institutions

David Cayley on Illich and Institutions

Author: frontporchrepublic July 5, 2021 Duration: 37:07
Canadian radio broadcaster David Cayley pulls up a chair to discuss Ivan Illich, a renegade priest and professor who argued against schools, missionaries, and modern medicine. Cayley, author of Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey, walks listeners through Illich’s thought and its applications to current tests like the pandemic. Guest Host: Michael Sauter Highlights 0:30 Murdock asks, “Storied thinker or Tolstoy story?” 2:15 David Cayley, a man of Ideas 3:00 Sauter conversation with Cayley begins 4:00 Cayley on cassette 8:00 Corruption of the best is the worst, the West in a nutshell 10:15 Charles Taylor in the secular amen corner 11:45 Place, Limits, and Liberty (and Illich) 12:45 Freedom and the Wackosphere 13:45 What is enough? 15:45 “Three Dimensions of Public Choice” 18:00 Technologies you can’t put down 21:00 Free-relatedness and dependency on others 22:15 The risk of birth 24:30 Doorways to nowhere 27:00 Computerized people and COVID 29:30 Cayley’s death cult 31:00 Apocalypse and revelation 33:30 Beware an institutionalized Incarnation 35:30 Illich and friends around the table Resources Full interview and Sauter review Ivan Illich: An Intellectual Journey davidcayley.com Obituary in The Lancet The Death of Ivan Ilyitch Find Your Way Home

There’s a certain kind of conversation that happens best when you’re not in a hurry, when the topic can wander from the headlines of the day to the deeper questions that have always shaped how we live together. The Brass Spittoon is built for that kind of talk. Hosted by the folks at Front Porch Republic, this podcast serves as a gathering spot for discussions rooted in the tangible realities of our lives-our connections to a specific place, the practical limits we encounter, and what genuine liberty means within that framework. Each episode feels less like a lecture and more like joining a thoughtful, meandering dialogue among friends who aren’t afraid to chew over ideas from both the past and the present. You’ll hear explorations of culture, community, and the small-scale practices that build a durable society, all approached with a sense of curiosity and a lack of pretense. It’s for anyone weary of abstract debates and hungry for conversations grounded in the texture of everyday life. So, pull up a chair and settle in; this is where we consider how to live well, right where we are.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 32

The Brass Spittoon
Podcast Episodes
Humane Politics [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:51
Adam Smith, a philosopher at the University of Dubuque, counterattacks the disenchanted War on Suffering. FPR President Mark Mitchell goes biblical to bring down a heightened politics of insanity. Brass Spittoon podcaste…
Human Responses to Technology [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:59
Jeff Bilbro, FPR’s super-beaver EIC and Grove City College professor, looks to ancient mythology to assess modern technology and fiction of the future. Cassandra Nelson of the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advan…
Imagining Life Beyond the Machine: Eric Miller and Jason Peters [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:06
Eric Miller, biographer of Christopher Lasch and a professor at Geneva College, plus longtime porcher Jason Peters of Hillsdale College address the role of imagination in shaping our shared reality. Matt Stewart, an asso…
Paul Kingsnorth: Blizzard of the World [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:14
Paul Kingsnorth delivered the keynote address at the 2023 FPR conference in Madison, Wisconsin. With help from a diverse band of fellow travelers including Jewish-Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen, Anglo-Catholic social…
Paul Kingsnorth’s Opening Prayer [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:11
Paul Kingsnorth, the keynote speaker at the 2023 FPR conference in Madison, Wisconsin, begins things with a bonus talk on the power of prayer in a desecrated western world. Highlights 1:15 Mark Mitchell’s welcome 4:00 Pa…
Bill Kauffman in Conversation [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:05
Bill Kauffman, author of multiple books including Poetry Night at the Ballpark and long the closing speaker at FPR conferences, talks about the origins of Front Porch Republic and his unique life of letters. Host: John M…
After Virtual: Civic Life [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:14:11
The After Virtual conference podcast series closes with a focus on civics and cemeteries. Mark Mitchell, author of Plutocratic Socialism, talks on, well, plutocrats and socialism (plus the importance of property ownershi…
After Virtual: Health [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:16
The penultimate session from the FPR conference After Virtual: The Art of Recovering Lost Goods addresses health. Philosopher Adam Smith from the University of Dubuque and medical doctor Brian Volck, author of Attending…
After Virtual: Chris Arnade [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:04
Chris Arnade, the keynote speaker at the After Virtual conference, has traded global finance for skid row photography. Chris discusses his journey from Wall Street board rooms to a booth at McDonald’s and the associated…
After Virtual: Education [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:29
The second episode from the FPR conference After Virtual: The Art of Recovering Lost Goods looks at education. Jeff Polet discusses walking away from Hope. Angel Adams Parham talks about the elementary power of a rapping…