I am a fan of Simone Weil. André Weil, a mathematician famous for his Weil Conjectures, was her brother. The Taniyama-Shimura-Weil conjecture, now proven and known as Modularity Theorem, postulated a connection between elliptic curves and modular forms. This seemingly unconnected conjecture stood on its own until Andrew Wiles famously proved a part of the conjecture on his way to establishing sufficiency for proving Fermat’s Last theorem. Have there been siblings who are more intellectually diverse, well-regarded thinkers?
Anyway, back to Simone Weil.
There is simply no comparable saintly intellectual from the twentieth century who was willing to put themselves in penury and suffering, in pursuit of their humane beliefs, as Simone Weil did.
Recently, I read the On the Abolition of All Political Parties, which combines her activism, skepticism towards organized political parties — much of which I share — and her unflinching faith. In her concise and short essay, Weil argues, why political parties are going to be unendingly power-hungry. In fact, she proposes that constraints increase their motivations. Being constrained by reality, she argues, will only make them seek even more power, inching their way to totalitarianism. Here is Weil, on the connection between mendacity and totalitarianism.
“… there is one necessary and sufficient condition: it should secure a vast amount of power.
Yet, once obtained, no finite amount of power is deemed sufficient. The absence of thought creates for the party, a permanent state of impotence, which, in turn, is attributed to the insufficient amount of power already obtained. Should the party ever become the absolute ruler in its country, international contingencies will soon impose new limitations.
Therefore, the essential tendency of all parties is towards totalitarianism, first on the national scale and then on the global scale.”
In parties, she finds a distinct lack of curiosity for the public interest, adherence to collective idiocy, and binary (for or against) taking-sides.
She finds this “transposition of the totalitarian spirit” pervading everywhere outside of political parties: in the sciences, in arts and literature, in churches, in schools, and in universities. What a resounding clarity on the schism and polarization we see nowadays.
Her words are timely and timeless.