more on the line of communism/anarchism feminist political philosophy, Emma Goldman and Voltairine de Cleyre.

amazing list btw

And this why I love it here

Simone Weil is definitely one of the most surprising and inspiring people I have ever had the pleasure of discovering. Some of my personal favourite passages about her, cherrypicking from the book, The Subversive Simone Weil:

Yet, the applicant (Simone Weil) was hell-bent on finding factory work, with or without Detoeuf’s help. Given the applicant’s bad eyesight, crippling migraines, and poor manual dexterity, he decided it was better if he helped. On the frigid morning of December 4, 1934, Simone Weil thus began work at the Alsthom factory on the Rue Lecourbe, the clanking of her stamping press adding to the din of this industrial neighborhood in southwestern Paris. That night, on the first page of her “factory journal,” Weil inscribed two epigraphs. The first is hers: “Not only should man know what he is making, but, if possible, he should see how it is used—see how nature is changed by him. Every man’s work should be an object of contemplation for him.”...

The act of thinking, Weil discovered, was the first casualty of factory work. A few days into her job, she was already reeling from fatigue. At times, the unremitting pace reduced Weil to tears. In one unexceptional entry, she wrote: “Very violent headache, finished the work while weeping almost uninterruptedly. (When I got home, interminable fit of sobbing.)” Weil’s distress resulted not just from the physical demands of her job, but also from the rigid production quotas it entailed. She could think only about the number of washers she had to punch by day’s end....

Another time, when working at a furnace where “the flames come up to lick your hands and arms,” Weil repeatedly burned herself.... Ridden by stern foremen and driven by production goals, workers were shorn of their human dignity. Within a matter of days, Weil realized with horror that the factory “makes me forget my real reasons for spending time in the factory.”

Even after getting fired from the factory, she still went onwards to get hands-on experience, never shying away from opposing viewpoints and companionships:

It was Perrin, when pressed by Weil to find her a place as a farm worker, who had contacted his friend Thibon (a Catholic follower of an extreme right-wing movement) to see if he would take her on. Despite a difficult beginning — Weil refused to sleep in the same house as the Thibons, instead sleeping on straw in a ruined cabin on the property—and though at loggerheads over secular and religious issues, Thibon and Weil developed a deep respect for one another during the few months she spent at the farm. In Thibon’s case, the respect verged on awe, while Weil trusted him enough to leave him a dozen of her notebooks....

At a meeting arranged by the student, Weil asked if she could move into their home. The husband and wife, surprised by the request, refused, but did agree to allow Weil to work on the farm. They soon came to regret their decision. Weil plunged head- first into the daily tasks at the farm, shovelling manure, digging for beets, and piling hay. Between her chores, she grilled the Bellevilles, asking them for details about the household economy or probing their thoughts about rural life. The couple realized that this strange young woman was unlike any other intellectual; as Mme. Belleville later observed, Weil “wanted to knock down the barriers and put herself at our level.” The problem, though, was that the Bellevilles did not find that their level was as abysmally low as Weil found it. They were rightly annoyed by Weil’s insistence on how unhappy and unrewarding their life was. When their guest told them that she wanted to “live the life of the poor, share their burdens, and know their troubles,” the couple felt that Weil not only failed to recognize who they were, but also patronized them. Ultimately, the Bellevilles asked the friend who had introduced them to Weil to ask her to stop her visits. “My husband and I,” Mme. Belleville confessed, “believed that so much learning had made the poor girl lose her wits."

People say about David Hume that he was a philosopher of the people, about Kant that he lived his philosophical rigour and about Diogenes that he lived his own philosophy. Simone Weil outclasses them in all these departments.

Not to be confused with Simone Veil, of the abortion rights!

Thank you! I love the Greeks.

Props for saying this. Whether one agrees with her on anything or not, I’ve always thought most of the ire toward her is thinly veiled misogyny. People will go out of their way to misunderstand her.

One of my favorite quotes of hers: “Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life. Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself.”

I'm listening!

I second this list. More people need to know that a woman philosopher devised the trolley problem. Anscombe is a fascinating person all round.

Susan Bordo is very pro-trans.