Simone Weil

Simone Weil (1909–1943) was a French philosopher and teacher. She studied philosophy at the École normale supérieure and taught in schools in the French provinces. Politically, she was active in the trade-union movement and criticized Marxism. In 1934–35 she worked in factories by choice, and in 1936 she joined the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. During the Second World War, she worked in London for »France libre«. In her later years, she engaged deeply with Christian mysticism and the relationship between politics and religion. Weil, who came from a Jewish family, died in Ashford, England, in 1943. Her posthumously published works include »La condition ouvrière«, »L’enracinement«, and »La pesanteur et la grâce«.