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Full Idea
To strive from necessity and not for some good - ...that is always slavery.
Gist of Idea
If effort is from necessity rather than for a good, it is slavery
Source
Simone Weil (Gravity and Grace (9 extracts) [1943], p.180)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.180
A Reaction
It is usual to see the possibility of anarchism as the starting point for political thinking, but I think for Weil the state of slavery has that role.
| 23807 | The collective is the one and only object of false idolatry [Weil] |
| 23808 | There are two goods - the absolute good we want, and the reachable opposite of evil [Weil] |
| 23809 | Our only social duty is to try to limit evil [Weil] |
| 23810 | Charity is the only love, and you can feel that for a country (a place with traditions), but not a nation [Weil] |
| 23811 | If effort is from necessity rather than for a good, it is slavery [Weil] |
| 23825 | We seek truth only because it is good [Weil] |
| 23826 | Beauty, goodness and truth are only achieved by applying full attention [Weil] |
| 23831 | The essence of power is illusory prestige [Weil] |
| 23830 | A group is only dangerous if it endorses an abstract entity [Weil] |
| 23833 | The good is a nothingness, and yet real [Weil] |
| 23765 | The soul is the intrinsic value of a human [Weil] |