Simone Weil (1909–1943) was a French activist and mystic whose philosophy centered around her deep thoughts about affliction, compassion, and the struggles of the socially and economically oppressed.
CLEAR ALL
Hailed by Andre Gide as the patron saint of all outsiders, Simone Weil’s short life was ample testimony to her beliefs. In 1942 she fled France along with her family, going firstly to America. She then moved back to London in order to work with de Gaulle.
Albert Camus called the philosopher Simone Weil “the only great spirit of our times.” T.S. Eliot said she was the greatest saint of the 20th century. Charles de Gaulle said she was insane.
In this 1943 essay, written during the last year of her life, which she spent working with Gen. de Gaulle in the struggle for French liberation, Weil makes the case for the existence of a transcendent and universal moral law, and describes the social responsibilities that accompany it.
To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.
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Prof. Philip Goodchild introduces the thought of Simone Weil (1909-1943) who has been described as a philosopher, a religious thinker, a mystic, and linked with any number of philosophers from Plato to Marx.
She believed we have obligations to attend to our fellow humans. How could that spirit change our politics?
Emerging from the thought-provoking discussions and correspondence Simone Weil had with the Reverend Father Perrin, this classic collection of essays contains the renowned philosopher and social activist's most profound meditations on the relationship of human life to the realm of the transcendent.
Estranged but not alienated, devout but not obedient, philosophical but not a systematiser, Simone Weil defies conventions.
The Heart of Virtue brings to life in an inspirational and memorable way what is at the core of every true moral virtue, namely, love.
Following Weil’s philosophical development, her central concepts are addressed under five categories: social-political philosophy, epistemology, ethics, metaphysical and religious philosophy, and aesthetics.
Photo Credit: Photo 12 / Contributor / Universal Images Group/ Getty Images
To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.
