André Abraham Weil
MacTutor, University of St Andrews, Scotland, (last update 2014).
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Simone Weil: Suffering, Attention and Compassionate Thought
This article explores Simone Weil’s account of the relationship between human suffering and intellectual life, with reference to the issues raised by the allegation that as an enterprise theodicy evinces a failure to ‘take suffering seriously’. The article shows how Weil’s understanding of the relationship between suffering and attention gives a clear and powerful account of the way that compassion – which involves an uncompromising acceptance of suffering – can be discerned in patterns of thought. Nevertheless, it is less clear in her work how these convictions might serve as a guide for theological statements. Weil’s understanding of the Christian conception of life is centered on the experience of finding God present in and through suffering, and this leaves her with the problem of how to reconcile her commitment not to ‘sweeten what is bitter’ with consolations or compensations with her intuition that the truth of creaturely existence is made available through suffering. Through an analysis of the inner contours of this conflict, it is argued that Weil’s central problem is of how to articulate spiritual reality in such a way as to encourage undivided attention.
Studies in Christian Ethics, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 185-201
Simone Weil and her Critics
The I.B. Tauris blogThe I.B. Tauris blog
Some reflections on Simone Weil’s Mystical Response to Beckett’s Absurdism
International Journal of English and Literature, vol. 4, no. 10, pp. 549-559
‘In the beginning was the deed’
Winch’s readings of Wittgenstein and Weil call for a significant rethinking of the relation between ‘metaphysics’ and ‘ethics’. But there are confusions, perhaps to be found in all three of these writers, that we may slip into here. These are linked with the tendency to see idealist tendencies in Wittgenstein, and with his remark that giving grounds comes to an end, not in a kind of seeing on our part, but in our acting. The sense that we think we see in this suggestion is dependent on a distorted conception of ‘justification’. Getting clear about this involves coming to appreciate just how much of our nature as ethical beings is engaged when we do philosophy.
— David Cockburn, Emeritus Professor, University of Wales.
Recalling the Apostle of Nonpartisanship
New York Times
The Sacred Object: Anne Carson and Simone Weil
From ScienceDirect by Elsevier, Acta Poética, Vol. 34, no.1, January–June 2013, pps.127-154.
“Simone Weil and the Traps of Intellectual Engagement”
in William Sweet, ed.,Ideas Under Fire: Historical Studies of Philosophy and Science in Adversity, Madison, UK: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, pp. 217-230
On the Ethics of Weakness: Simone Weil and Nihilism
This essay appears in Gianni Vattimo, ed., Weak Thought, State University of New York Press, 2013, pp. 111-137.
Simone Weil and Eric Voegelin: Two Paths to the Same Truth
With Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) and Simone Weil (1909-1943), we are confronted with two philosophers who examine events, understand their present, and consider the “disorder” of their time caused by Marxism, Fascism, and National Socialism. Their respective works constitute acts of resistance against ideology. Wondering about the “dark times” (Bertolt Brecht), they diagnose a Europe that suffers from a disease that is not without precedent, a disease that affects the spirit, the soul, and a disease that can be grasped by its several symptoms. In order to cure this disease, it is necessary to find remedies, and they both believe two countries in particular offer some hope.
VoegelinView.com, The Eric Voegelin Society publishes VoegelinView in partnership with Louisiana State University’s Eric Voegelin Institute, the University of Wisconsin’s Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy, and Nichollas State University’s Nicholls Foundation.
