A Critique of Greatness

Abstract

This article outlines and contextualizes Simone Weil's critique of greatness and its contemporary relevance. Weil argues that the greatness of conquest and colonization is ersatz greatness based on violence. For Weil, worshipping greatness is a path to fascism. Drawing from this, I argue that Weil's critique provides an opening for the abolition of greatness as a political narrative. To make this second move, I expand Weil's critique of the historically situated concept of greatness to challenge reactionary ideals of history in the contemporary US contextualized by referencing controversies about statue removals and Critical Race Theory in primary education.