Weil, Simone

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Year of Publication

2004

Author

LeBlanc, John Randolph

Editor

Murray, Christopher John

Book

Encyclopedia of Modern French Thought

Pages

647-653

Publisher

Fitzroy Dearborn

Place Published

New York

Language

English

Keywords

affliction (malheur)
decreation
evil
force
gravity
grace
Marx, Karl
necessity
roots (uprootedness)
science
work
overview

Annotation

Leblanc offers an informed and considering the length of the article, remarkably in-depth overview of Simone Weil’s life and thought. He begins with a discussion of decreation touching upon suffering, gravity and grace, science and evil. He then turns to look at Weil’s concept of necessity. He next addresses Weil’s political writing including her response to and critique of Marx. LeBlanc next discusses ‘force’ at some length, then goes on to consider Weil’s work written while or in response to her experiences working in a factory in late 1934 – early 1935. LeBlanc then considers Weil’s concepts of the personal and impersonal, before turning to a discussion of her thought on affliction. The essay ends with a look at Weil’s writing in her book The Need for Roots.