Contents
Simone Weil
Writing about attention, oppression and spiritual responsibility while testing her ideas in lived experience.
Gravity and Grace · The Need for Roots
- Born
- 3 February 1909
- Birthplace
- Paris, France
- Died
- 24 August 1943
More people
Simone Weil
Simone Weil was a French philosopher whose short life combined teaching, manual labour, political commitment and religious inquiry.
Early life
Intellectual family
Grew up with her brother André, later a mathematician.
Education
Studied philosophy at the École normale supérieure.
Career
- 1931
Teaching
Began work as a philosophy teacher.
- 1934–1935
Factory labour
Worked in industry to understand workers’ conditions.
- 1942
Free French work
Moved to Britain and wrote for the resistance movement.
Selected work
Gravity and Grace
Posthumous selections from her notebooks.
The Need for Roots
Examines obligations and the foundations of social life.
Waiting for God
Collects spiritual letters and essays.
Beyond work
Religious search
Was deeply drawn to Christianity while remaining outside formal conversion.
Solidarity
Her strict personal ethics included efforts to share the hardships of others.
Sources & photo credit
Biography and career ↗Further source ↗Original photograph. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
Photo: Unknown. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
