Born: Feb 3, 1909, Paris, France
Died: Aug 24, 1943, Ashford, Kent, England
Simone Weil was a French social philosopher, mystic, and political activist, whose writings influenced French and English social thought. Born in Paris, Weil was a precocious child. In 1928, she entered the prestigious École Normale Supérieure, graduating in 1931. While teaching in secondary schools, she became an ardent social activist and worked for various socialist, Communist, and pacifist causes. In 1936 she joined the International Brigade during the civil war in Spain, assisting as a camp cook.
Shortly thereafter, Weil had a mystical experience while listening to Gregorian chant. She abandoned her Jewish heritage for Christianity, but refused to join an organized church.
During World War II, Weil’s Jewish heritage prevented her from teaching in German-occupied France. She and her parents fled to the United States, but she soon moved to England to help the French Resistance. She died there while attempting to subsist on the same rations given her French compatriots under the German occupation. Weil’s major writings, published posthumously, include Gravity and Grace (1947; trans. 1952), Waiting for God (1950; trans. 1951), and The Need for Roots (1949; trans. 1952).
