Simone Weil

Simone Weil captured the great dilemmas and contradictions of her time; In other words: she knew how to capture the spirit of the times. Without a doubt, she and Hannah Arendt are the two great thinkers of the past 20th century. In her short life, with her prodigious intelligence and her caring commitment, Simone Weil began the great work of rethinking the foundations of Western culture. it can be seen that beyond the numerous shipwrecks we have experienced, such as the two great world wars, she brings values and reflections that should not be squandered. Weil wonders about: What does it mean to take stock or criticize our civilization? And she replies that it is trying to clarify in a precise way the trap that has led the human being to be a slave to his own creations. In reality, Weil had perceived the dark side of modernity, of the industrial revolution and of what would be called the "scientific" organization of work, the effects of which he had suffered from his own experience suffering despotic exploitation in the Taylorist factory (panopticon, inspired by the construction of Jeremy Bentham). For the rest, Weil intends to go beyond the framework of demanding reforms in the existing order and proposes moving towards the construction of a new democratic social organization. In this way, it is important above all to highlight, as a central element, the obligations towards the human being. And these obligations must correspond to fundamental human needs. It should not be forgotten that the title of one of her most emblematic books bears the title "Take roots. Prelude to a declaration of duties towards the human being".