The Life of Simone Weil: A Look at the Philosopher’s Key Works

Simone Weil was a French philosopher, political activist, teacher, and mystic who dedicated her life to social justice and education. While Weil was born to a Jewish family, she grew up in an agonistic household. However, throughout her life, she experienced numerous religious revelations that drew her to the Christian faith and influenced her political and social work. Her greatest inspirations were Plato, Socrates, Thomas Aquinas, Karl Marx, Thomas More, and Voltaire.

Weil’s work explores philosophy through the human condition, emphasizing that morality is an ingrained pillar of humanity. Many of her most notable philosophical beliefs are paradoxical; for example, her concept of decreation defines the individual’s purpose as to give up one’s existence.

Today, scholars such as Robert Zaretsky and Simon Leys continue to study the notebooks of Simone Weil to dissect her ideas on religion, colonialism, class, and ethics. Recent books with new translations of her writings include Simone Weil: An Anthology, Seventy Letters, First and Last Notebooks, and Awaiting God.

Throughout her life, Simone Weil pursued education, social equality, and political freedom while formulating her stance on the philosophy of the human condition.

• Early life: Simone Weil was born in Paris, France, on February 3, 1909, to Salomea Reinherz and Bernard Weil. As a child, Weil was intellectually curious and advanced like her mathematician brother, André. At age six, she quoted lines from French poet Jean Racine, and by age twelve, she was fluent in ancient Greek. She also had a sense of social justice at a young age, aware of and horrified by the events of World War I. Weil focused on her education and social activism as a teenager, wearing men’s clothing and avoiding love affairs.
• Education: While at lycée (secondary school), Weil grew fond of her philosophy teacher, Émile Chartier, also known as Alain, who exposed her to pacifist beliefs. In 1928, she attended the École Normale Supérieure to pursue a certificate in General Philosophy and Logic. Weil continued her studies in philosophy at the same school, receiving a diplôme d'études supérieures (DES). After passing the agrégation—a French exam for distinguished professors—she taught at a secondary school for girls. Lectures on Philosophy is a compilation of her philosophical teachings.
• Activism: Weil’s activism started at a young age. When she was six years old, she abstained from eating sugar because the soldiers at the Western Front had none. For a year, Weil worked at an auto factory to better understand the struggles of the working class. Following her time at the factory in 1936, she joined an anarchist group to train for the Spanish Civil War, prompted by the Republican killings. However, her time working in Spain ended after an accident that left her badly injured led her to Portugal for recovery. Throughout her life, she was a Bolshevik, Marxist, pacifist, and trade unionist. While teaching at the secondary school for girls, Weil often received criticism for her political activism.
• Later years: In her later years, Weil’s religious experiences influenced her political writing and activism. After a religious ecstasy—a transcendent spiritual experience—at the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Italy, and other mystical experiences while reading the poem, “Love III,” Weil viewed her social work for the first time as a form of the divine. During World War II, she left Marseille and escaped France with her parents, eventually ending up in London to join the Free French movement. While in London, Weil wrote one of her longest, most famous works, The Need for Roots, and began rationing again to honor the French troops; however, she died shortly after due to malnutrition and tuberculosis. Her final resting place is in Ashford, Kent, England.
• Legacy: Many scholars regarded Simone as a radical during her life, and only a select group of people read her work while she was alive. However, following her death, she became well-known. Her religious work gained the most attention, but her political and social thought influenced the world. Some thinkers, including T.S. Eliot, Albert Camus, and Simone de Beauvoir, regarded her as a saint and great spirit. However, despite garnering recognition and praise, she received criticism from scholars and important figures, such as Leon Trotsky and Charles de Gaulle. There are plaques in both Paris and New York honoring Weil’s legacy.

Weil’s writings explored various themes, including social-political philosophy, religion, epistemology, and ethics. Some of her most well-known works did not gain traction or publication until after her death.

• La pesanteur et la Grâce (1947): La pesanteur et la Grâce (Gravity and Grace) is one of Weil’s most famous works. Gustave Thibon, Weil’s friend and a devout Catholic, compiled the work while Siân Miles edited the piece. The book is a collection of her personal notebooks, revealing Weil’s philosophical beliefs on life, love, evil, and misfortune.
• L'Enracinement (1949): Written during World War II, L'Enracinement, prélude à une déclaration des devoirs envers l'être humain details Weil’s idea for France’s future after the war. In this text, she develops her concept of uprootedness and examines both the spiritual and ethical contexts that contributed to the German invasion of France. The Need for Roots: prelude towards a declaration of duties towards mankind is the book’s English-language title.
• Attente de Dieu (1950): In this philosophical account of God, Weil outlines three forms of the love of God: love of neighbors, love of the world’s beauty, and love of religious ceremonies. In Attente de Dieu, also known as Waiting for God, Weil explores how individuals can practice these three types of love to develop a closer relationship with God. Simone’s correspondence with the Reverend Father Perrin inspired the work.
  
• Lettre à un religieux (1951): Originally published by one of France’s leading publishing houses, Gallimard, Lettre à un religieux (Letter to a Priest) is Weil’s opinion of the Catholic faith and institution. She outlines thirty-five different expressions, revealing her disagreement with some institutional dogmas and love of God.
• Oppression et Liberté (1955): Albert Camus collected a series of Weil’s political essays, publishing them under the title “Oppression et Liberté,” which translates to “oppression and liberty.” In these short essays, Weil analyzes the social and political aspects of individual freedom. By evaluating the causes of systematic oppression, she offers a solution for ridding society of oppressive mechanisms.

Weil’s work influenced social and political thought, and her most notable principles are still studied today. Many of her writings explore the human condition, specifically the idea of suffering. Her concept of affliction is an all-encompassing experience of the soul with both pure joy and immense suffering on the same spectrum. In “The Iliad or the Poem of Force,” Weil acknowledges war and oppression as the most severe case of suffering and tries to understand the tie between suffering and existence.

Other principles associated with Simone Weil include her call for the abolition of all political parties and her notion of uprootedness. Weil—who defined uprootedness as the destruction of past and present community ties—argues this severance is necessary for individuals to feel rooted with their surrounding environment in the future.

Weil’s philosophical and social writings relate to different forms of political and religious theory, such as:

1. 1. Christian anarchism: This religious movement follows the notion that Christianity contains key elements of anarchism, as God is the only authority for practicing Christians. Weil’s religious works, such as Attente de Dieu, reflect this concept by emphasizing God as the sole route to providence.
2. 2. Individualism: A type of political and moral thought, individualism underscores and studies the individual’s morality, emphasizing the needs of human beings over the state or government. Weil was deeply interested in morality and ethics, believing that morality was necessary for human life, not simply a social construct.
3. 3. Marxism: Marxism is a socioeconomic, political thought that explores class relations. Karl Marx’s ideologies influenced Weil’s political activism and her sociopolitical writings, as she dedicated her life to understanding social hierarchies and methods for equalizing the system.

Learn what it means to think like a philosopher with the MasterClass Annual Membership. Dr. Cornel West, one of the world’s most provocative intellects, will guide you through fundamental questions about what it means to be human and how to best love your community.