Simone Weil Research Network United Kingdom

哲学家、神秘主义者、活动家和谜——西蒙娜·薇依的生活和工作很难被简单地描述和归类。近年来，她的兴趣和分析的广度和深度因其在社会和政治问题上的长期和新颖而吸引了人们的注意。正如阿尔贝·加缪所说，他是“我们时代唯一的伟大精神”，按照安德烈·纪德的说法，他是“所有局外人的守护神”，因此，他与哲学、政治理论和神学的主流趋势形成鲜明对比。因此，她的思想提供了一个富有成效的、创新的、跨学科的视角，从这个视角来看待和解决21世纪最紧迫的问题，因为这些问题与政治、哲学和神学这三个关键学科有关。这个以英国为基地但面向国际的网络旨在汇集在这些主要领域研究韦尔的学者，以探索她的思想对当代问题的效用。这句话特别贴切，因为威尔与英国有着明显的联系，她在伦敦为法国抵抗运动工作时，写下了她最伟大的政治著作。虽然在美国、法国和德国都有韦尔思想的社团，尽管人们对她的生活和工作越来越感兴趣，但英国一直缺乏韦尔研究的正式和重点结构，因此错过了由此带来的好处。认识到这种缺乏集中化和对韦尔兴趣的增长，该项目旨在建立一个西蒙·韦尔网络，以协调韦尔学者在一个结构化和跨学科的研究环境。这将使她的思想能够在学术上和公众上传播，为一个更长期的AHRC ECR研究项目奠定基础。因此，该网络的目标是将不同学科的英国韦尔学者联系起来，向外关注欧洲的同事，并扩大和改进韦尔有限的英文学术工作。该网络将促进并提供三次专题讨论会、两次公共活动和一次重大国际会议。在此基础上，研究人员将编辑一本关于Weil的跨学科论文，并在顶级期刊上发表一篇研究文章。英国Weil网络将使我们能够实现这些目标，并将围绕英国Weil网络网站进行构建。这个网站将成为韦尔学者和公众了解围绕西蒙娜·韦尔的生活、工作和学术活动的第一个地方。此外，该网络将特别重视培养和促进跨学科的韦尔奖学金，并在这方面从AHRC成功资助的“斯宾诺莎研究网络”中获得灵感。因此，我们不是资助单一的研究方向，而是有兴趣装备、授权和邀请来自不同学科的韦尔学者（特别是PGR和ECR研究人员）进行对话，以便为英国的韦尔奖学金提供结构。研讨会、公共活动和会议的重点将是“21世纪的西蒙娜·韦尔：宗教、哲学和政治”。这些活动将把学者们聚集在一起，探讨韦尔的思想通过她选择的哲学、政治和神学学科来解决当前社会和政治问题的潜力，并向公众介绍她创新和富有挑战性的生活。韦尔的异类复兴是传统的哲学、宗教和政治思维模式未能应对21世纪社会、生态、宗教和政治生活的根本变化的结果。通过一系列学科视角和一系列事件，将韦尔的思想与这些当代挑战联系起来，将能够有效地传播韦尔的思想，并为当代哲学、政治和神学中与我们时代的无数挑战相关的僵局提供回应。

Philosopher, mystic, activist, and enigma - the life and work of Simone Weil defies easy description and categorization. The range and depth of her interests and analysis has in recent years attracted attention for both its longevity and freshness in relation to social and political problems. Through being, as Albert Camus notes 'the only great spirit of our times' and per André Gide, the 'patron saint of all outsiders', Weil stands in contrast to the predominant trends in philosophy, political theory, and theology. Her thought thus provides a productive, innovative, and interdisciplinary lens from which to approach and address the 21st century's most pressing problems as they relate to the three key disciplines of politics, philosophy, and theology.This UK based but internationally looking network aims to bring together scholars working on Weil in these main areas in order to explore the utility of her thought for contemporary concerns. This is particularly apt as Weil has a clear link to the UK, having written her greatest political works in London when working for the French Resistance. Whilst there are societies for Weil's thought in the U.S.A, France, and Germany, and despite the growing interest in her life and work, the UK has always lacked formal and focal structures for the study of Weil, and thus misses the benefits that would result.Having identified this lack of centralization and growth of interest in Weil, the project aims to set up a Simone Weil Network to coordinate Weil scholars in a structured and interdisciplinary research environment. This will enable her thought to be disseminated academically and publicly, laying the groundwork for a longer-term AHRC ECR research project. The network will therefore aim to connect UK Weil scholars in different disciplines, with an outward focus towards colleagues in Europe, as well as expand and improve the limited scholarly work available on Weil in English. The network will facilitate and deliver three symposia, two public events, and a major international conference. From this the investigators will edit a volume of interdisciplinary essays on Weil, alongside publishing one research article in a top tier journal.The UK Weil Network will allow us to deliver these aims, and will be structured around a UK Weil Network website. This website will become the first place for Weil scholars and members of the public to go in order to find out about the life, work, and scholarly activity that surrounds Simone Weil. Further, the network will pay special attention to foster and facilitate interdisciplinary Weil scholarship, and in this takes inspiration from the successful AHRC funded 'Spinoza Research Network'. We are thus not funding a single line of inquiry but are interested in equipping, empowering, and bringing into dialogue Weil scholars (especially PGR and ECR researchers) from a variety of disciplines in order to give structure to Weil scholarship in the UK.The focus of the symposia, public events, and conference will be the theme 'Simone Weil in the 21st Century: Religion, Philosophy, and Politics'. These events will bring together scholars to explore the potential for Weil's thought to address current social and political concerns through her chosen disciplines of philosophy, politics, and theology, as well as introduce her innovative and challenging life to the public.Weil's disparate renaissance is a consequence of the failure of traditional philosophical, religious, and political models of thinking to address the radical shifts in social, ecological, religious, and political life in the 21st century. Bringing Weil's thought to bear on these contemporary challenges, from an array of disciplinary perspectives and through a range of events, will enable an effective dissemination of Weil's thought, and provide responses to present impasses in contemporary philosophy, politics, and theology with regards to the myriad challenges of our times.