Teacher

Simone Weil



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.

Simone Weil
FindCenter Video Image

The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties Towards Mankind

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.

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Video Image
13:15

The Living Philosophy of Simone Weil

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.

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Video Image

Draft for a Statement of Human Obligation

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.

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Video Image

FindCenter Quotes ImageTo be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Video Image
06:13

Why Study Simone Weil with Philip Goodchild

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.

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Video Image

What We Owe to Others: Simone Weil’s Radical Reminder

She believed we have obligations to attend to our fellow humans. How could that spirit change our politics?

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Video Image

Waiting for God

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.

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Video Image

Strange and Intelligent

Estranged but not alienated, devout but not obedient, philosophical but not a systematiser, Simone Weil defies conventions.

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Video Image

The Heart of Virtue: Lessons from Life and Literature Illustrating the Beauty and Value of Moral Character

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.

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Video Image

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - Simone Weil

Following Weil’s philosophical development, her central concepts are addressed under five categories: social-political philosophy, epistemology, ethics, metaphysical and religious philosophy, and aesthetics.

FindCenter AddIcon
FindCenter Loader Image