Great Books Jul 28, 2025 Simone Weil was a radical philosopher who diagnosed some of modernity’s most serious problems. While she was influenced by Karl Marx, she also rejected many of Marxism’s central tenets. This means her critique of modernity and the solutions she offers are both original and challenging. She prescribes a wholesale transformation of society, and in particular, a collective reimagining of the role work plays in human life. Chapters 0:00 Introduction 0:58 Marxism and Revolution 3:00 Weil’s Moral Convictions 5:00 Uprootedness 8:00 Factory Work 9:36 Weil’s Utopian Solution 14:02 Need for Greatness Bibliography: Eliot, T.S. “Preface.” The Need for Roots. Translated by Arthur Willis. Routledge, 2005. 7-14. Rosen, Fred. “Marxism, Mysticism, and Liberty: The Influence of Simone Weil on Albert Camus.” Political Theory 7 (1979). 301-19. Rozelle-Stone, A. Rebecca and Benjamin P. Davis, “Simone Weil”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2025 Edition), Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman (eds.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/s… Weil, Simone. Oppression and Liberty. Translated by Arthur Wills and John Petrie. Routledge, 2006. Weil, Simone. The Need for Roots. Translated by Ros Schwartz. Penguin, 2023. Zaretsky, Robert. “Simone Weil’s Conservatism.” Slate 25 May 2021 https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2…
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