Oldal 142 [142]
140 | THe Puttosopuy or Eco-Pozrrics
seeking political means for saving the physical and mental conditions
for an existence worthy of man.
‘The ecological aspect of the matter would be strengthened if I were
to support my claim with argumentation taken from the theory of living
systems. I could, but I must confess that it does not originate there.
I took it from the notes left behind by Simone Weil. Thus, as a postscript,
I shall attempt to reconstruct the train of thought that led her here.
Her starting point was the same question that occupied Horkheimer
and Adorno in their work on the nature of rational rule: how did man
become the slave of his own work? What trap have we fallen into?
“Capitalism”, Weil writes, “has brought about the emancipation of collective
humanity with respect to nature. But this collective humanity has itself taken
on with respect to the individual the oppressive function formerly exercised by
nature.” From this, she draws a simpler (one might say naive) and
definitely more radical conclusion than the philosophers of alienation
of the Frankfurt school. “By the nature of things, the person is subdued to
collectivity and rights are dependent upon force. ‘The lies and misconceptions
which obscure this truth are extremely dangerous because they prevent us from
appealing to the only thing which is immune to force and can preserve us from
it: namely, that other force which is the radiance of the spirit.”'*' Well, these
lies and misconceptions, to which Weil refers, are the presuppositions
of modern political philosophy.
For the concept of the “dot-like” individual detached from his social
relations fails to take into account the fact of our original
interdependence: that freedom does not divide us, but rather unites us
with our companions. If we remove this bond from consideration, we
cannot arrive at any other conclusion than the ever-newer utopias
connected to compelling the rights of the repressed individual. The
attempt at realising them merely intensifies man’s isolation and increases
his vulnerability to the impersonal power of the ever-newer institutions
promising “the order of freedom” or “social justice”.
According to Weil, the anarchist philosopher — Christian mystic,
persecuted Jew, French resistance fighter — all attempts to eradicate
oppression and violence from human social relations through the
introduction of new, more just rules, are in vain. The attempt of
enlightened modernity to humanise the forces that direct history has
proved self-deceptive. “Utilitarianism was the fruit of one of these attempts.
130 Simone Weil: Gravity and Grace p.154. Routledge, London, 2002.
181 Sian Miles ed: Simone Weil — an Anthology. Virago Press, London, 1986, p.61.