Simone Weil: Thinking the Balance between Love and Justice

Published: 2024-12-30

Versions

Vol. 55 (2024)

Simone Weil: Thinking the Balance between Love and Justice

María del Sol Romano

Gdańsk Studies

Section: Artykuły

https://doi.org/10.26142/stgd-2024-017

Abstract

This article aims to explore some of the reflections of the French philosopher Simone Weil on justice, particularly in its relation to love. The author distinguishes two kinds of justice: natural and supernatural. On the one hand, through natural justice, two wills that maintain a balance of strength are made to coincide and come to an understanding. But when the strength between two parties is unequal, the will of the strong must be imposed upon the weak. It is, on the other hand, through supernatural justice that, in an unequal relationship of strength, the one who is inhabited by this virtue –which is identified with love and is a divine gift– does not impose his will upon the weak but behaves as if there were equality between them.

Keywords:

Compassion, love, natural justice, Simone Weil, supernatural justice

Download files

PDF

Citation rules

Romano, M. del S. (2024). Simone Weil: Thinking the Balance between Love and Justice. Gdańsk Studies, 55, 84–92. https://doi.org/10.26142/stgd-2024-017

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Bell, R. H. 1998. Simone Weil: the way of justice as compassion. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Google Scholar

Pétrement, S. 1976. Simone Weil: A Life. New York: Pantheon Books.
Google Scholar

Romano, M. S. 2021. Simone Weil: la atención y la acción como reconocimiento de la existencia. Cuadernos salmantinos de filosofía, 48, 471-489
Google Scholar

Springsted, E. O. 1986. Simone Weil and the Suffering of Love. Cambridge: Cowley Publications.
Google Scholar

Thucydides. 1971. History of the Peloponnesian War. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Google Scholar

Vetö, M. 1994. The Religious Metaphysics of Simone Weil. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Google Scholar

Weil, S. 2005. An Anthology. London: Penguin Classics.
Google Scholar

Weil, S. 2015. First and Last Notebooks: Supernatural Knowledge. Eugene: Wipf and Stock.
Google Scholar

Weil, S. 1976. Intimations of Christianity among the Ancient Greeks. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Google Scholar

Weil, S. 1971. The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties towards Mankind. New York: Harper & Row.
Google Scholar

Weil, S. 1956a. The Notebooks of Simone Weil. Vol. 1. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Google Scholar

Weil, S. 1956b. The Notebooks of Simone Weil. Vol. 2. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Google Scholar

Weil, S. 1973. Waiting for God. New York: Harper & Row.
Google Scholar

Weil, S. 1998. Writings Selected. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
Google Scholar