Eric O. Springsted is the librarian at the Center of Theological Inquiry and co-founder of the American Weil Society, where he was its president for over thirty years.
"This is an important and much-needed collection of Simone Weil’s
later philosophical reflections, which is introduced, edited, and
translated by two of the very best Weil scholars in the
English-speaking world. Weil is too often excluded from
conversations occurring within and around the academic discipline
of philosophy, and as Eric O. Springsted carefully explains in his
introduction, this omission may be a result of how Weil herself
understood good philosophy—as a patient contemplation of
irreducible problems, rather than as system-building that ends in a
discrete set of positions and prescriptions. Springsted’s curation
sheds new light on Weil, the philosopher, who attentively feels the
rough patches of human existence so that she may inhabit, think,
and act in the world more honestly." —Rebecca Rozelle-Stone,
president, American Weil Society, University of North Dakota
"[Simone Weil] was above all a thinker, and Eric O. Springsted has
gathered a wonderful collection of 10 essays by her on just that.
The essays are not merely Weil at her most speculative, but her
reflections on the process of thinking itself. Taken together, they
'take up what she thought thinking is and ought to be and hence
what she thought she was doing in writing all that she did.' In
that alone, the book casts aside our habitual ways of remembering
Weil and clears entirely fresh ground. . . . Each of the 10 essays
is relatively short but packs a punch, as Weil’s writing tends to
do. They were all written in the last three years of her life, from
1940 to 1943, a feverishly productive and intensely experimental
time for Weil. She was living for the most part in Marseilles,
where she had gone to work in the resistance after fleeing Paris,
just as the Germans descended." —America
"Springsted edits this collection of Simone Weil's works on her
conception of philosophy, consisting of a short introduction and
ten translated essays. . . . Though unpolished, these pieces offer
substantive analysis and insight into key topics in philosophy,
such as the nature of the discipline, value, personal identity,
character, and morality. . . . An excellent resource for
philosophers interested in metaphilosophy, metaethics, and free
will." —Library Journal
“In this welcome book, Springstead presents the philosophical
thought of Simone Weil during the final three years of her life . .
. All of the essays reveal both the interdisciplinary nature of
Weil’s thought and the extent to which her way of philosophizing
goes beyond the limits of academic philosophy.” —Choice
“Springstead’s passion for Weil and his extraordinary expertise in
her multidisciplinary contributions to intellectual life make him
uniquely qualified to edit this philosophical testament. . . . Some
of the essays have been unavailable for years, and several are
presented for the first time in this welcome assortment of
philosophical literature. Those who are admirers of Weil will
appreciate these classic texts and be inspired by the newer
contributions.” —Catholic Library World
"This is an excellent book by one of the world's leading Simone
Weil scholars. Eric O. Springsted has gathered Simone Weil's
writings that focus explicitly on her conception of philosophy and
its relation to both value and the transcendent. In doing so, he
has provided a conceptual framework for understanding Weil's oeuvre
as a whole, which challenges readers to reinvestigate their views
on the nature of philosophy and value." —Mario Von Der Ruhr,
Swansea University
"This book makes an important contribution to Weil studies, studies
which are by their very nature interdisciplinary. Because Weil died
so young, much of her work was haphazardly collected into various
volumes by friends and colleagues after her death, often with very
little attention paid to theme, coherence, or consistency.
Springsted has done a great service over the years to Weil scholars
in his attempts to address these problems; this volume is a welcome
continuation of his efforts." —Vance Morgan, Providence College
“Springsted has selected several essays—some rather developed and
others possibly drafts—that provide the reader with enough material
to get a sense of ‘what she thought thinking is and ought to be and
hence what she thought she was doing in writing all that she did.’
. . . Because the essays in this book capture her thinking within a
very specific time period (1940-1943) and because many of their
themes are related, the reader is able to get a certain sense of
who she was and what she was about.” —CatholicBookReview.org
“This careful selection of essays, the manner in which each is set
up and put into context, and the very useful index, provide an
excellent contribution to the existing Weil publications. Together
with Springsted’s clear-sighted reflections on Weil’s understanding
of philosophy in the introduction, this volume is to be highly
recommended not only for Weil scholars but for all readers who have
an interest in Weil’s philosophy.” —Irish Theological Quarterly
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