Rereading Ivan Illich’s method. A path toward “human” sciences?

Résumé 0

Ivan Illich’s method consists in letting go of any preconceptions about the use of our words and our senses, thereby deconstructing the institutive frames by which we think and conduct research. Illich’s historical works on the “ocular frames” that have shaped our ways of seeing are compared to Puech’s works on the conception of time by ancient Greeks and Christians and Magni’s work on space in Olmec writings. Illich etymologically outlines his method as a path that is made by walking, which restores the “flavors” and “joys” of reading as well as the “convivial function of language.” Since his “poet(h)ics” pay special attention to the language and writings of others, his scientific ethos is based on a “path of friendship” leading to asceticism (as a constitutive exercise in the works of a researcher) and to a poetic injunction (his terminological creativity aims at making texts clear for readers). Aren’t those explicitly redefined ethics and values somehow missing in contemporary research?