Formative Writings (Routledge Revivals)

Formative Writings (Routledge Revivals)

Author: Simone Weil

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-10-15

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 1135176000

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This volume, first published in English in 1987 makes available an important part of Weil’s early writings. Although primarily known as a religious thinker, she devoted enormous energy in her formative years to her work as a political activist and as a philosopher/teacher. This book reveals these other sides of Weil and demonstrates the lines of continuity underlying her whole thought. Written between 1929 and 1941 the book covers a crucial and transitional period in Weil’s life. Taken together they represent invaluable primary source material on the evolution of Weil’s life and on her chosen method of abstracting elements from her personal experience and transmuting that experience into considered thought. Even when highly theoretical, her writing was always concerned with the application of her intelligence to concrete problems of human existence.


The Subversive Simone Weil

The Subversive Simone Weil

Author: Robert Zaretsky

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2023-04-05

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0226826600

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Known as the “patron saint of all outsiders,” Simone Weil (1909–43) was one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable thinkers, a philosopher who truly lived by her political and ethical ideals. In a short life framed by the two world wars, Weil taught philosophy to lycée students and organized union workers, fought alongside anarchists during the Spanish Civil War and labored alongside workers on assembly lines, joined the Free French movement in London and died in despair because she was not sent to France to help the Resistance. Though Weil published little during her life, after her death, thanks largely to the efforts of Albert Camus, hundreds of pages of her manuscripts were published to critical and popular acclaim. While many seekers have been attracted to Weil’s religious thought, Robert Zaretsky gives us a different Weil, exploring her insights into politics and ethics, and showing us a new side of Weil that balances her contradictions—the rigorous rationalist who also had her own brand of Catholic mysticism; the revolutionary with a soft spot for anarchism yet who believed in the hierarchy of labor; and the humanitarian who emphasized human needs and obligations over human rights. Reflecting on the relationship between thought and action in Weil’s life, The Subversive Simone Weil honors the complexity of Weil’s thought and speaks to why it matters and continues to fascinate readers today.


Simone Weil's Political Philosophy

Simone Weil's Political Philosophy

Author: Benjamin P. Davis

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1538171961

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"Davis demonstrates how Simone Weil's Marxism challenges current neoliberal understandings of the self and of human rights. Explaining her related critiques of colonialism and of political parties, it presents Weil as a twentieth-century political philosopher who anticipated and critically responded to the most contemporary political theory"--


Self-Knowledge and Self-Deception

Self-Knowledge and Self-Deception

Author: Hugo Strandberg

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-08-11

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1137538228

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The aim of this book is to acquire a better understanding of the question 'who am I?' By means of the concepts of self-knowledge and self-deception questions about the self are studied. The light in which its topic is seen is the light of love, the light in which other people really become visible and so oneself in one's relation to them.


Simone Weil: A Very Short Introduction

Simone Weil: A Very Short Introduction

Author: A. Rebecca Rozelle-Stone

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2024-01-23

Total Pages: 165

ISBN-13: 0192662570

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This Very Short Introduction provides an overview of the intriguing and provocative life and ideas of twentieth century French philosopher, mystic, and social activist Simone Weil. Weil was not a typical, systematic philosopher. Despite her short life, Weil's philosophy has much to offer us in our times of personal, communal, political, and environmental crises, both in the breath and poignancy of her philosophy, and the topics it covers. In keeping with Weil's spirit to consider and address laypeople, Rozelle-Stone takes readers, including those who have had little or no previous exposure to Weil or philosophy, on an accessible journey of Weil's major philosophical impacts. This exploration consists of seven chapters highlighting: her life and manner of death, both characterized by attention; the influence of ancient Greek ideas on her philosophy; her thoughts on labour and politics; her unique and ecumenical religious inspirations, stemming from Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism; her ethical philosophy centred on a specific notion of attentiveness; her understanding of beauty as connected to fragility but also eternity; and finally, her legacy and influence on contemporary writers and issues, particularly as she may help us navigate and critically assess the growing convergence between religious fervour, late capitalist and corporate values, and authoritarian politics. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.


Simone Weil on Colonialism

Simone Weil on Colonialism

Author: Simone Weil

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780742522831

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Twentieth-century French philosopher Simone Weil's complete writings on colonialism are collected and translated into English in this volume. Visit our website for sample chapters!


Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought

Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought

Author: Christopher John Murray

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-01-11

Total Pages: 748

ISBN-13: 1135455643

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In this wide-ranging guide to twentieth-century French thought, leading scholars offer an authoritative multi-disciplinary analysis of one of the most distinctive and influential traditions in modern thought. Unlike any other existing work, this important work covers not only philosophy, but also all the other major disciplines, including literary theory, sociology, linguistics, political thought, theology, and more.


Simone Weil, Beyond Ideology?

Simone Weil, Beyond Ideology?

Author: Sophie Bourgault

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-12-16

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 3030484017

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In the last decade, interest in the writings of French philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943) has surged. Weil is admired for her militant syndicalism, her factory experience and participation in the French resistance, but it is above all the eclectic and rich character of her work that has increasingly attracted scholarly attention. Weil reflected on subjects as diverse as quantum physics, Greek tragedy, bankruptcy, colonialism, technology, education, and religious metaphysics, but perhaps most interesting is the way that her work seems to defy any clear ideological labelling: Marxist, anarchist, liberal, conservative and republican all seem to fall short in describing the complexity of Weil’s thinking. Adding to the interpretive difficulty is the fact that Weil often expressed biting criticisms of most things political. What this edited volume argues is that it is precisely Weil’s unclassifiable nature, combined with her sharp and sometimes ambivalent criticisms of politics, that make her work a most timely and fascinating object of study for contemporary political philosophy. It proposes a two-pronged approach to her thought: first, via a series of conversations set up between Weil and key authors in modern and contemporary political theory (e.g. Sandel, Rawls, Ahmed, Agamben, Orwell); and secondly, via a close study of Weil’s reflections on various ideologies. The goal of this book is not to position Simone Weil squarely within a single ideological tradition but rather to propose that her thought might allow us to critically engage with various ideologies in the history of political ideas.


Simone Weil

Simone Weil

Author: Christopher J. Frost

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 1998-03-13

Total Pages: 148

ISBN-13: 9781446236444

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Long before postmodern or deconstructionist ideas became current, Simone Weil was concerned with recognizing the absence of consistency and the continual presence of reversals and contradictions in life. She was someone for whom the task of clarifying her perceptions of reality and meaning was an ongoing one. She challenged contemporary views on such complex issues as human nature, good and evil, divinity and truth. Weil's work offers a voice for those segments of society that are generally under-represented, misrepresented or totally silent in conventional historical and philosophical writings. In this introduction to Simone Weil's ideas, and the political and intellectual circumstances of her work, the authors make Weil's complex and at times elusive ideas accessible to readers. They delineate how her ideas evolved, and provide compelling excerpts from her writings to let her speak for herself. In addition, the authors provide their own interpretation of Weil's work.