{"product_id":"the-loss-of-the-senses-9781800508644","title":"The Loss of the Senses","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Loss of the Senses\u003c\/em\u003e comprises seventeen essays that Ivan Illich (1926-2022) wrote between 1987 and 1998 and continued to edit until the end of his life. This collection is unknown to the English-speaking world.\u003cbr\u003e The essays cut across academic disciplines and range over different facets of contemporary life. Included among the many topics are the roots of the service economy, the history of the gaze, the idea of technology as a Western invention, and the co-related eclipse of the university and the text in the twenty-first century.\u003cbr\u003e Despite the variety of subjects treated, these essays cohere for two reasons. As Illich's \u003cem\u003eDeschooling Society\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eMedical Nemesis\u003c\/em\u003e did before, they confirm that being immersed in a technological milieu disables our native capacities to learn, heal, and move. Furthermore, they imply that we must deeply historicize the present to rightly understand the nature and effects of present-day socio-technical systems.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cem\u003eThe Loss of the Senses\u003c\/em\u003e holds up \"the mirror of the past,\" in which Illich recognizes the looming figure of the contemporary man without senses. He incisively argues that the techno-scientific cloud that now envelops us withers the realm of our felt experience. For example, our \"age of the show\" yokes the ubiquitous screen to an eye that can no longer see but, like a camera, can only record what it is shown.\u003cbr\u003e Illich also reminds us of the ever-present possibility of \"ascetical practices\" that can enliven our senses and thwart the dissolution of our embodied sensibilities.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ivan Illich\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Equinox Publishing (UK)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/11\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 180\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.82d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781800508644","brand":"Equinox Publishing (UK)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46836619870345,"sku":"9781800508644","price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_c0ab2625-40e8-45b7-a95e-283edf15d958.jpg?v=1780441156","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/the-loss-of-the-senses-9781800508644","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}