« Expliquer le bien par une image ». Simone Weil et l’image platonicienne du Bien dans la République

Abstract

In this contribution I aim to analyze how Simone Weil (1909-1943) interprets the image of the Good and the periagōghē of the soul described by Socrates in Plato’s Republic. In the first part, I consider the key role that Plato plays in the last writings of Weil. The Athenian philosopher, in fact, becomes a specific reference for Weil in the 1940s, within her attempt to reformulate an ethic for contemporaneity. In the second part, I analyze Weil’s specific comments on the Socratic image of the sun (Resp. VI 504a-509c) and on the last part of the myth of the cave (Resp. VII 518b-d). In the last part, I try to highlight Weil’s originality and her specific contribution : the author in fact frees herself from the Platonic text and follows an interpretative path that integrates the role of desire. She deviates from an intellectualist interpretation of the vision of the Good and pushes both the analogy of the sun and the exit of the prisoner outside the limits of nous.