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“Pleasure and Joy in the Work”: Using Simone Weil in the Classroom
Author(s) -
Morgan Vance G.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
philosophical investigations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.172
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 1467-9205
pISSN - 0190-0536
DOI - 10.1111/phin.12256
Subject(s) - pleasure , character (mathematics) , plot (graphics) , stanza , philosophy , epistemology , aesthetics , psychoanalysis , sociology , psychology , poetry , linguistics , statistics , geometry , mathematics , neuroscience
Richard Rorty once wrote that inspired teaching “is the result of an encounter with an author, character, plot, stanza, line or archaic torso which has made a difference to the [teacher’s] conception of who she is, what she is good for, what she wants to do with herself: an encounter which has rearranged her priorities and purposes.” In a teaching career more than three decades long, no author has influenced me more profoundly as a teacher and as a human being than Simone Weil. She has changed how I think about myself, my relationships, the world around me and ultimately about what transcends me. And this could not help but change how I am in the classroom. This essay is a reflection on how Simone Weil has changed my life, both in and out of the classroom.