“The needs of the soul can for the most part be listed in pairs of opposites which balance and complete one another.”

—  Simone Weil

Draft for a Statement of Human Obligation (1943), Statement Of Obligations
Context: The needs of the soul can for the most part be listed in pairs of opposites which balance and complete one another.
The human soul has need of equality and of hierarchy.
Equality is the public recognition, effectively expressed in institutions and manners, of the principle that an equal degree of attention is due to the needs of all human beings. Hierarchy is the scale of responsibilities. Since attention is inclined to direct itself upwards and remain fixed, special provisions are necessary to ensure the effective compatibility of equality and hierarchy.

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Simone Weil photo
Simone Weil 193
French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist 1909–1943

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