The need for roots

prelude to a declaravian of duties toward mankind

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Simone Weil: The need for roots (1971, Harper and Row)

302 pages

English language

Published June 11, 1971 by Harper and Row.

ISBN:
978-0-06-090226-1
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OCLC Number:
6989603

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4 stars (1 review)

20 editions

Making Contact with a Great Soul

4 stars

In the introduction to this book, TS Eliot writes: "I cannot conceive of anybody’s agreeing with all of her views, or of not disagreeing violently with some of them. But agreement and rejection are secondary: what matters is to make contact with a great soul." This, to me, summarises The Need for Roots well. This book is less about what is written and more about the framing of moral, social and political philosophy that Weil offers.

Written in 1943 and published just after WWII, this book was commissioned to understand why France capitulated so easily at the beginning of the war. It offers that and much more. Part 1: "The Needs of the Soul" is strong by itself. It is a treatise on how "rootedness" is necessary for people to be connected to place. The ideas predate many sociological ideas about place that were later taken on by pheonomenological philosophers …

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