The compassion for fragility: a new patriotism

Abstract

The thinking of Simone Weil can be interpreted in terms of a “politics of culture”, which should enable a de-creative reading of social force. Reflection on the need for roots, in the context of Free France, leads Simone Weil to conceive, against the idea of national grandeur, a new patriotism sprung from disgrace and subordinated to the exigence of justice, a patriotism whose motive should be compassion for fragility.