The Memory of the Vanquished. History and Justice in Simone Weil’s Thought

Abstract

The restoration of a link between history and power is one of the most interesting aspects of Simone Weil’s political thought. During the first half of the 20th century, Weil developed reflections on the concept of history from the perspective of the vanquished. In this way, her thought comes close to that of her contemporary Walter Benjamin. Reading Weil together with Benjamin helps to point out a dialogue between Weil’s work and recent theories of anamnetic justice, as well as, more generally, the current move to incorporate the victims’ point of view into political discourse.

Keywords

• history
• power
• justice
• victims
• vanquished
• Rome
• Greece
• Weil
• Benjamin.