Simone Weil and The need for roots

In The Need for Roots, French philosopher Simone Weil gives an analysis of both what man needs to be morally and spiritually fulfilled, and what results when these conditions are not met. Looking at the ongoing devastation of the Second World War and especially the spiritual malaise that she blames for France's quick capitulation, she argues that rootedness, is “perhaps the most important and least known" social need.

Join Anthony Hejduk and Amogha Sahu (Columbia) for this series reading and discussing Simone Weil’s The Need for Roots.

All sessions will be held at 12:30 PM. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP for all meetings on this page, or on individual pages for specific sessions.

Schedule

Thursday, February 27 | on the Needs of the Soul and Origins of Unrootedness

In The Need for Roots, French philosopher Simone Weil gives an analysis of both what man needs to be morally and spiritually fulfilled, and what results when these conditions are not met. Looking at the ongoing devastation of the Second World War and especially the spiritual malaise that she blames for France's quick capitulation, she argues that rootedness, is "perhaps the most important and least known" social need. (Reading: pp. 1–59)

Thursday, March 6 | On Work, Religion, and Nationhood

In this session, we will discuss forms of uprootedness in rural life. Simone Weil discusses ways of ‘rerooting’ the French peasantry of the 1930s, from Christian moral education to the restoration of the “spiritual dignity of work” to the revival of French Nationalism. Weil’s project is ambitious: she is attempting nothing less than a synthesis of socialist, Christian, and nationalist ethical thought. Can work bear the spiritual weight that Weil places on it? What sort of Christian moral education is acceptable to “root” citizens of a nominally secular country? To what extent does Weil’s synthesis succeed, if at all? (Reading: pp. 59–127)

Thursday, March 27 | On Politics as a Spiritual Practice

This week, we will discuss how an ethical vision could be mobilized to inspire a nation to greatness. In The Need for Roots, Simone Weil considers fundamental issues about the nature of political power, the relationship between means and ends, and the ethics of propaganda. What sorts of corruption is intrinsic to political engagement? How can faith be used to motivate a political movement? How must a nation reckon with its past crimes? Why must a successful political movement have a correct “conception of greatness”? (Reading: pp. 127–184)

Thursday, April 3 | On Force, Truth, and the Sacred

In The Need for Roots, Simone Weil discusses the primacy of what she calls force ruling all natural phenomena, which she identifies as an important part of Hitler's ideology. To combat this, Weil proposes a new understanding of science and the world, under-girded by the sacred, that corresponds to spiritual realities and supports the quest for transcendent truth. (Reading: pp. 184–234)