Affliction in Simone Weil’s Thought
Mostafa Mousavi Azam, Zahra Qasemzade & Ehsan Momtahan
The world has always been subject to a destructive evil, and every human being has experienced suffering in some way in his/her life. Therefore, if we do not look at evil with the connivance, we can find that the study of human suffering can constitute a part of the human’s answers about evil. By propounding affliction, Simon Weil not only tries to answer some questions about evil, but also introduces the human to his other dimensions through affliction, as she introduces it as a step towards self-knowledge. For the self-alienated human of the modern world, the answer to causes of affliction is a liberating gift due to his return to his true self, because what truly liberates the human is the understanding of truth, and affliction helps him to achieve it. Therefore, in this article, the issue of affliction in the thought of this French scholar is examined in a descriptive-analytical manner by referring to Simone Weil’s main works and those of her commentators.
Philosophy of Religion, vol. 18, no. 2 (Summer 2021), pp. 175-200.
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