Simone Weil
Simone Adolphine Weil (/ˈveɪ/ VAY, French: [simɔn adɔlfin vɛj]; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic, and political activist. Since 1995, more than 2,500 scholarly works have been published about her, including close analyses and readings of her work.
Simone Weil | |
|---|---|
| Born | Simone Adolphine Weil 3 February 1909 |
| Died | 24 August 1943 (aged 34) |
| Nationality | French |
| Education | École Normale Supérieure, University of Paris (B.A., M.A.) |
| Era | 20th-century philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| School | Continental philosophy Marxism (early) Christian anarchism Christian socialism (late) Christian Mysticism Individualism Modern Platonism |
Main interests | Political philosophy, moral philosophy, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science |
Notable ideas | Decreation (renouncing the gift of free will as a form of acceptance of everything that is independent of one's particular desires; making "something created pass into the uncreated"), uprootedness (déracinement), patriotism of compassion, abolition of political parties, the unjust character of affliction (malheur), compassion must act in the area of metaxy |
After her graduation from formal education, Weil became a teacher. She taught intermittently throughout the 1930s, taking several breaks because of poor health and in order to devote herself to political activism. Such work saw her assisting in the trade union movement, taking the side of the anarchists known as the Durruti Column in the Spanish Civil War, and spending more than a year working as a labourer, mostly in car factories, so that she could better understand the working class.
Weil became increasingly religious and inclined towards mysticism as her life progressed. She wrote throughout her life, although most of her writings did not attract much attention until after her death. In the 1950s and 1960s, her work became famous in continental Europe and throughout the English-speaking world. Her thought has continued to be the subject of extensive scholarship across a wide range of fields.
The mathematician André Weil was her brother.