Simone Weil Reading List
Simone Weil (February 3, 1909 - August 24, 1943)
I hear people say they want to read more philosophy but don’t know where to start. I wanted to make it easy for someone to find someone great to read, so I’m going to be making a post like this dedicated to philosophers that have inspired me over way too many hours of reading in MY life. Let me save you some time if you want to have a little more philosophy in YOUR life.
Simone Weil was maybe the greatest example of living one’s philosophy that has ever existed.
We all know what it feels like to have strong feelings about something going on in the world, but nothing that really moves us to the point that we actually move off the couch and do something about it.
Most of us know someone who claims to be “open minded” or “just searching for truth” who hasn’t changed their mind about anything substantive for the entire time you’ve known them.
Simone Weil was the opposite. Her conviction towards receiving the world as it is rather than constantly seeking and imposing herself onto it led to multiple paradigm shifts in her thinking on big issues. Her conviction to truly get to know the world and not sit in a warm classroom safely theorizing about abstract ideas led her to factory work in an automobile plant, to the front lines of the Spanish Civil War, to volunteering for dangerous wartime missions behind enemy lines, all the way to her early death at the age of 34 years old. People talk about patron saints throughout history– individuals who embody a certain spirit. She is often regarded as one.
For me personally there are few names in the history of philosophy more inspiring. We live in a world that values will, discipline, and being assertive as the main skills that you need in order to improve your lot in life. And those skills are great. We would all do well to improve them. But Simone Weil offers a perspective that leaves room for the will, but also cultivates openness and receptivity. Two qualities any truly strong person embodies as well. Sometimes the strongest move is to let things speak through you; not impose your will upon them. As someone always trying to be as strong as I can for the people I love… her work changed my life deeply.
Philosophize This! has four episodes on her:
Episode #173 - The Need For Roots
Episode #174 - The Mathematician
Philosophize This! on Apple Podcasts
Book reading list in order:
Just to familiarize yourself with the scope of her work I’d read something secondary and light. For me it helps not to just dive into a thinker. Helps me find things I am interested in about them. Also makes them more human and not just some “reading project” I’m working on. Remember to read these slowly and internalize the ideas.
Try to get to KNOW the thinker. As Seneca says when you’re reading: “We should hunt out the helpful pieces of teaching, and the spirited and noble-minded sayings which are capable of immediate practical application—not far-fetched or archaic expressions or extravagant metaphors and figures of speech—and learn them so well that words become works.”
Could be anything that seems interesting to you, but two possibilities on Amazon that I’ve read over the years are:
The Subversive Simone Weil by Robert Zaretsky
Simone Weil A Modern Pilgrimage by Robert Coles
Then I’d recommend reading a ton from the internet. Reddit posts, comment sections, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, IEP– even if the comment sections are full of people misunderstanding the work it still serves as an amazing tool for seeing what mistakes not to make. It’s a huge resource people often overlook in this process.
Then I’d read her books in this order:
Waiting for God
Essay: Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God
On The Abolition of All Political Parties
Gravity and Grace
The Need For Roots
War And The Iliad
The philosopher Simone De Beauvoir once described Weil as someone who: “...had a heart that could beat right across the world.” This is my attempt at trying to keep it beating and hopefully inspire someone out there the way she’s inspired me.
Hope you have a great rest of your week. Be well.
