Product Description

Long before postmodern or deconstructionist ideas became current, Simone Weil was concerned with recognizing the absence of consistency and the continual presence of reversals and contradictions in life. She was someone for whom the task of clarifying her perceptions of reality and meaning was an ongoing one. She challenged contemporary views on such complex issues as human nature, good and evil, divinity and truth. Weil's work offers a voice for those segments of society that are generally under-represented, misrepresented or totally silent in conventional historical and philosophical writings.

In this introduction to Simone Weil's ideas, and the political and intellectual circumstances of her work, the authors make Weil's complex and at times elusive ideas accessible to readers. They delineate how her ideas evolved, and provide compelling excerpts from her writings to let her speak for herself. In addition, the authors provide their own interpretation of her work.

Simone Weil will be widely read by students and academics involved in women's studies, philosophy, psychology, political and social theory.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5153813 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

Review
`This is a comprehensive and densely informative publication on the works of Simone Weil.' - Journal of Peace Research

`Frost and Bell-Metereau offer a compelling, multi-textured, and "attentive" consideration of many complex questions.' - Association for Integrative Studies Newsletter

`Frost and Bell-Metereau have created an objective and valuable source for organising and explaining the work of Simon Weil' -Psychology of Women Section

Customer Reviews

a post post-modern presentation
This slim volume on Weil is unlike all others (and there are many others) I've read. Frost and Bell-Metereau have obviously read Weil quite extensively and have a good working knowledge of the important secondary literature (but in English only it seems). Their selection of quotes are quite a propos, too. What I found odd about the book was its apologist tone. The authors seem overly eager to "justify" Weil's views, especially her spiritual/religious views, to what they evidently sense may be a hostile post-modern audience. Hence one gets the impression that Simone Weil needs somehow to be "rehabilitated" to reach the now-sophisticated post-Y2K reader. I'm not sure that's necessary (or appropriate), but their attempt is interesting nonetheless for the light it sheds on just how far foundational philosophical and metaphysical discourse has evidently fallen into embarrassing disrepute these days. Perhaps theirs is the only way to present such thinkers as Weil to the cyber generation. But I hope not.