The Need for Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties Towards Mankind (Routledge Classics) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The notion of obligations comes before that of rights, which is subordinate and relative to the former..." (more)
Key Phrases: false greatness, Third Republic, Joan of Arc, Middle Ages (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

'We must simply expose ourselves to the personality of a woman of genius, of a kind of genius akin to that of the saints.' - T.S. Eliot in the Preface

'What is required if men and women are to feel at home in society and are to recover their vitality? Into wrestling with that question, Simone Weil put the very substance of her mind and temperament. The apparently solid edifices of our prepossessions fall down before her onslaught like ninepins, and she is as fertile and forthright in her positive suggestions . . . she can be relied upon to toss aside the superficial and to come to grips with the essential and the profound.' - Times Literary Supplement

We must simply expose ourselves to the personality of a woman of genius, of a kind of genius akin to that of the saints. - T.S. Eliot in the Preface

What is required if men and women are to feel at home in society and are to recover their vitality? Into wrestling with that question, Simone Weil put the very substance of her mind and temperament. The apparently solid edifices of our prepossessions fall down before her onslaught like ninepins, and she is as fertile and forthright in her positive suggestions . . . she can be relied upon to toss aside the superficial and to come to grips with the essential and the profound. - Times Literary Supplement

Product Description

In this, her most famous book, Weil reflects on the importance of religious and political social structures in the life of the individual.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (November 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415271029
• ISBN-13: 978-0415271028
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #314,478 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars The soul's needs are many, February 12, 2009

By	Davis-Vautrin (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

Unlike Whitman, who celebrated contradictions and made these explode like fireworks, Simone Weil tries to explain and fabricate a system out of the soul's contradictory "needs," (as distinct from wants), not as a form of celebration, but perhaps more in an attempt to provide calm. (We should probably remember that the author suffered from migraines.) Although the contradictions are many, and the reality of the described needs not always obvious, set forth by Weil these assume a tranquility that can only come from scientific precision and a truth that must be absolute. Here is the list: Order, Liberty, Obedience, Responsibility, Equality, Hierarchism, Honor, Punishment, Freedom of Opinion, Security, Risk, Private Property, Collective Property, and Truth. For additional detail on each, see inside.