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Full Idea
The human soul has need of disciplined participation in a common task of public value, and it has need of personal initiative within this participation.
Gist of Idea
We all need to partipate in public tasks, and take some initiative
Source
Simone Weil (Draft Statement of Human Obligations [1943], p.229)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.229
A Reaction
The intrusion of competitive capitalism into almost every area of modern life has more or less eliminated such activities. Only state employees now have such satisfactions, on the whole. I admire Weil's approach here.
| 23814 | Every human yearns for an unattainable transcendent good [Weil] |
| 23815 | We cannot equally respect what is unequal, so equal respect needs a shared ground [Weil] |
| 23816 | Attention to a transcendent reality motivates a duty to foster the good of humanity [Weil] |
| 23817 | We need both equality (to attend to human needs) and hierarchy (as a scale of responsibilities) [Weil] |
| 23819 | Deliberate public lying should be punished [Weil] |
| 23818 | We have liberty in the space between nature and accepted authority [Weil] |
| 23821 | Crime should be punished, to bring the perpetrator freely back to morality [Weil] |
| 23823 | Life needs risks to avoid sickly boredom [Weil] |
| 23820 | People need personal and collective property, and a social class lacking property is shameful [Weil] |
| 23822 | We all need to partipate in public tasks, and take some initiative [Weil] |
| 23824 | Where human needs are satisfied we find happiness, friendship and beauty [Weil] |