Simone Weil

John K. Taber jktaber at dhc.net
Mon Nov 22 08:19:40 PST 1999



>Since there have been threads on anti-Semitism and "post-secular"
trends in
>philosophy, the following article on Simone Weil may be of interest.
The
>article points to a mix of anti-communism, anti-Semitism, Christian
>mysticism, moralism, Gaullism, "anti-totalitarian" authoritarianism,
etc.
>in her thought. Yoshie
>
>***** _New York Times_ 20 November 1999
>
>Simone Weil's Mixed Legacy
>By PAUL LEWIS
>
[snipped Lewis's account]

I was hoping somebody else would field this. I read Attente de dieu some thirty-five years ago, and a couple of scattered pieces of Simone Weil's writings.

It's just too long to remember details, but I do not recall anything that I thought was anti-semitic. At one time she was friends with Sartre and de Beauvoir, when they were all students under Alain, pre-Socratic philosophy I think.

There is no mention of anti-semitism in regard to Weil in either Sartre's or de Beauvoir's work that I can remember.

Perhaps Lewis is taking Weil's rejection of Jewish religion as anti-semitism?

Anyhow, until somebody convinces me otherwise, I don't believe it.

John K. Taber



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