The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties Towards Mankind

Simone Weil

ISBN 10: 0415271029 / ISBN 13: 9780415271028

Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2001

About this Item

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Seller Inventory # C9780415271028

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties Towards Mankind
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415271029
• ISBN 13: 9780415271028
• Binding: Paperback / softback
• Condition: New
• Seller catalogs:
  • Philosophy

About this title

Synopsis

Hailed by Andre Gide as the patron saint of all outsiders, Simone Weil's short life was ample testimony to her beliefs. In 1942 she fled France along with her family, going firstly to America. She then moved back to London in order to work with de Gaulle. Published posthumously The Need for Roots was a direct result of this collaboration. Its purpose was to help rebuild France after the war. In this, her most famous book, Weil reflects on the importance of religious and political social structures in the life of the individual. She wrote that one of the basic obligations we have as human beings is to not let another suffer from hunger. Equally as important, however, is our duty towards our community: we may have declared various human rights, but we have overlooked the obligations and this has left us self-righteous and rootless. She could easily have been issuing a direct warning to us today, the citizens of Century 21.

About the Author

Simone Weil (1909-1943). A political theorist and activist, a revolutionary and a philosopher and religious mystic. She starved herself to death in protest against the Nazi occupation of France.