Simone Weil (1909–1943)

Käte Lindemann

pp. 287-297

in: Contemporary women philosophers, 1900-today, Berlin, Springer, 1995

Abstract

Few who knew Simone Weil remained neutral towards her. Simone de Beauvoir avoided her; her philosophy students revered her.¹ The coroner claimed she starved herself to death; those who tended her found the claim absurd.² De Gaulle thought her "crazy" and gave her a "make work" task; scholars find the result of that "make work" a profound piece of social-political philosophy.³ Some commentators call her "saintly"; others find her behavior merely maladaptive. These counter claims create a perennial interest in Weil's personal life and many commentators fashion her in mythic rather than descriptive terms.

Cited authors

de Beauvoir Simone

Weil Simone