Simone Weil · Philosophy

Affliction: When Suffering Turns a Person Into a Thing

Weil&rsquo;s harrowing analysis of <em>affliction</em> (malheur) - the extreme suffering that fuses physical pain, social degradation, and inner distress, stamps the soul with the mark of slavery, and makes its victim anonymous, degraded, and almost impossible to love.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Weil distinguished affliction (malheur) from ordinary suffering: affliction seizes a whole life in all its parts - physical, social, and psychological - marks the soul with slavery, and makes its victim anonymous. Explain what affliction is and why Weil thought attending to the afflicted is nearly sup…

Leads to the Gospel of Matthew.

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