The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast Ep. 225: Simone Weil on War and Oppression (Part One)
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Sep 9, 2019 Guest Corey Mohler, an expert on Simone Weil's essays, explores the mechanisms that maintain oppression and war, focusing on Weil's analysis of the Iliad and the dehumanizing effects of force. They discuss the relationship between power, expansion, and brutality, critique Marx's perspective on power dynamics, and explore the link between individual interactions and power-seeking in society. They also delve into the connection between human efforts and natural selection, highlighting how societies have selective forces akin to Darwinian processes.
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Force Controls All Parties
- Simone Weil interprets The Iliad as a poem showing the abstract force that acts on both oppressor and oppressed.
- Force is blind and controls everyone, reducing them to mere instruments of power dynamics.
War’s Self-Perpetuating Cycle
- War intoxicates participants by making reasonable peace impossible to accept.
- Once committed, admitting horror means defeat, so fighting becomes a self-perpetuating, destructive cycle.
Power Dehumanizes All
- Power dynamics turn both oppressors and oppressed into 'things' devoid of true humanity.
- The oppressor becomes momentum; the oppressed become passive matter, stripping away individuality.