Philosophy of Simone Weil

Catalog description

Philosopher Simone Weil (1909-1943) has been called 'the patron saint of outsiders.' Her short life appears paradoxical: Weil was a student of France's elite educational system at a time when few women pursued a degree in philosophy; a fierce activist on behalf of the working class and against colonialism; an independent person who ignored gender convention; a brilliant reader of Plato, Buddhism, Kant, and the Egyptian Book of the Dead; a mystic and unorthodox Catholic of Jewish background who refused baptism. In this course, we venture beyond Weil's legend; we aim to study Weil's writings on politics, science, literature, philosophy and religion, with an eye towards their (asystematic) unity. Throughout our reading, we hold ourselves open to the beautiful and the good, to which Weil guides our attention, during this, our own extraordinary time -- a time in which, as Weil wrote in the 1940s, 'affliction is hanging over us all.'