Simone Weil on Thucydides. Critique of Political-Theology and Christian Hermeneutics.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32870/sincronia.v30.n90.e1070Keywords:
Force, Christianity, Omnipotens, AtheismAbstract
I examine Simone Weil’s reading of some aspects of Thucydides’ work. I will stress that, for Weil, two passages from History are particularly important: paragraphs 89 and 105, belonging to the so-called Melian Dialogue. I will point out that Weil worked on these passages from the late 1930s until the last years of her life. Although initially her interpretation incorporates Thucydidean theses on the nomos of force into her political thought, she later subjects them to criticism. I will argue that her gradual distancing from Thucydides allowed her to strengthen her opposition to Western political theology. I will finally defend that her critical work on Thucydides is one of the factors that helped her to outline an original hermeneutics of some elements of Christian tradition. For such purposes, I will adopt an interpretative approach to the relevant passages from the works of Simone Weil and Thucydides, employing philological resources when required.
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