Work · Political Philosophy & Ethics (20th–21st c.)
Gravity and Grace
Aphorisms from her notebooks: the soul is pulled down by gravity, and only grace raises it.
Introduction
Simone Weil did not write this book. Before she left Marseille for America in 1942, she entrusted her notebooks to the Catholic philosopher Gustave Thibon, on whose farm she had worked. After her death he selected passages, arranged them under themes such as void, detachment, attention, affliction and beauty, and published them in 1947. It was the first of her books to appear and made her known in France and, through translations, abroad. Readers have pointed out that Thibon’s selection reflects his own Catholic perspective; the complete notebooks, published later, show a wider range of interests, including Greek science and Indian philosophy.
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