Durham E-Theses The 'void' in Simone Weil and the 'broken middle' in Gillian Rose : the genesis of the search for salvation Parry, Gregory David How to cite: Parry, Gregory David (2006) The 'void' in Simone Weil and the 'broken middle' in Gillian Rose : the genesis of the search for salvation, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1300/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Thesis Title: THE "VOID" IN SIMONE WEIL AND THE "BROKEN MIDDLE" IN GILLIAN ROSE: The Genesis of the Search for Salvation with The copyright of this thesis rests the author or the university to which *it was submitted. No quotation from "it, or information derived from it ' may be Gregory David Parry published without the prior ' written consent of the author or university, and any information derived from it should be acknowledged. Qualification: PhD UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY 2006 a i1 JUN2007 ABSTRACT PhD (2006) THE `VOID' IN SIMONE WEIL AND THE `BROKEN MIDDLE' IN GILLIAN ROSE: THE GENESIS OF THE SEARCH FOR SALVATION By Gregory David Parry This thesis aims to examine the respective ways in which Simone Weil and Gillian Rose assessthe human condition as the conflict and tension of human life. The use of the notion of `contradiction' represents conflict. Employed by both women, `contradiction' will be explored through their assessmentsof the human condition. With their respective uses of this notion, Weil's and Rose's assessmentsdevelop into a wider field of application using very specific, conceptual precepts: the `void' by Weil and the `broken middle' by Rose. The essentialconstructive claim is that eachof these conceptualities can properly be viewed as attempts to explore what shall be referred to as the genesisof the searchfor salvation; the attempt, that is, to elucidate through both women the possibility of negotiating in and with `contradiction' towards a senseof inner-transformation. This claim is supportedby their illumination of what it means to live with, in and through contradiction in the world in relation with God. Given that Weil and Rose identified with Gnosticism, neo-gnostic soteriology, which draws the human condition into a fulfilled senseof self-realisation about the divine, will be used to test these claims made by both women. Despite the fact that they have each attracted significant academic interest over the years, this is the first work to bring thesetwo thinkers into relation with eachother. This thesis is divided into four distinct parts. Part I identifies the wider philosophical, existential and theological issues at play. Part II explores Weil's relation to and use of the concept of the `void' (that acts as an intermediary between the human and divine) both impersonally and personally in order to uncover her perception of the human situation in relation to God. In turn, Part III explores Rose's personal and intellectual vocation. More importantly, Rose's `broken middle' will be explored, which broadly speaking, addressesthe difficulty and tension (contradiction) of the middle between the universal and the particular. Part IV places the respective accounts of the human condition and contradiction in Weil's `void' and Rose's `broken middle' in explicit conversation with each other in order to establish and elucidate what they each separately and together suggest about the genesis of the searchfor salvation. TABLE OF CONTENT Acknowledgements Abbreviations ii PART I: AN OVERVIEW Chapter I: Contradiction as a Way of Life 2 1.1 Introduction 2 1.2 The Soteriology of the Human Condition 4 1.3 The Intellectual and Cultural Significance of Weil and Rose 7 1.4 An Initial Exploration of the Worlds of Simone Weil and Gillian Rose 10 1.4.1 Viewing the Human-Divine Relationship 10 1.4.2 The Nature and Reality of Contradiction 18 21 1.4.3 Weil -'The Void'; Rose-'The Broken Middle' 1.5 The Genesisof the Searchfor Salvation 26 PART II Prelude: Simone Weil and the Void 28 Chapter II: Sourcing the `Void' 43 2.1 Introduction 43 2.2 Weil's Sourceof Philosophy in Early Childhood 44 2.3 The Accessibility of Truth: The Philosopher versusthe `Village Idiot' 51 2.4 The Sourcesof Weil's Vision of Truth 54 2.4.1 French Intellectualism as a Sourceof Weil's Vision of Truth 55 55 2.4.1.1 Overview of French Philosophy in the Late 19th- Early 20thCentury 2.4.1.2 Alain and the Philosophersof Spiritualism 57 2.4.1.3 French Philosophy: Moving from Theory to Practice 60 2.4.2 Alain's Philosophy of Thought and Action 61 2.4.3 Weil's Meditation on the World of Value 64 2.4.4 Identifying the World of Value 65 2.5 Weil's `Scienceet perception dans Descartes' 68 2.6 Connectingthe Mind to the External World 71 2.7 The Implications of `Scienceet perception' 76 2.8 Conclusion 82 Chapter III: Thinking the `Void' 86 3.1 Introduction 86 3.2 The Meaning of Work 89 3.3 Factory Work and Human Oppression 91 3.4 Human Freedom and Social Equilibrium 96 3.5 The Relation betweenthe Human Being and Nature 101 3.6 The Limitations of a Free Society 104 3.7 Uncovered: The Tension betweenThe Human and the Divine 108 3.8 Weil's Concept of God through Descartes 113 3.9 Weil's Theology and her Use of Plato 117 3.9.1 Weil's Religious Thought in Secular Life 117 3.9.2 The Sourcesof Weil's Conception of God 120 3.9.3 Weil and Plato: Contradiction and the Good 123 3.9.4 Weil's Understandingof Contradiction 126 3.10 Conclusion 132 Chapter IV: Experiencing the `Void' 136 4.1 Introduction 136 4.2 The Value of Human Suffering 140 4.3 Slavery and the `Great Beast' of Plato 143 4.4 The Bridge betweenthe Social and the Mystical in Weil 147 4.5 Weil and the `Darkness' of Christian Mysticism 154 4.6 Weil: Coming into Contact with Worldlessness 157 4.7 Experiencing the Void (1): `Necessity', `Decreation' and the 160 SupernaturalSoul 4.8 Experiencing the Void (2): Emerging from the `Point of View' 164 4.9 Experiencing the Void (3): Consequencesof Unity in Contradiction 168 4.10 Passingthrough Void: ContemporaryNeo-Gnosticism 171 4.10.1 Gnosis of the Soul 171 4.10.2 The Gnostic, Cosmological System 172 4.10.3 Jung's Interpretation of Gnostic Myths 174 4.10.4 The Link in Gnostic Psychology 175 4.10.5 The Revelation and Meaning of Gnosis 177 4.11 Weil and Gnostic Soteriology 178 4.12 Conclusion 180 PART III Prelude: Gillian Rose and the Broken Middle 183 Chapter V: Hegel's Legacy and the Enlightenment of Gillian 193 Rose 5.1 Introduction 193 5.2 Rose and Hegel: The Connection of Thought 194 5.3 The Philosophical Setting 199 5.4 Kant's TranscendentalDeduction 202 5.4.1 The Possibility of Experience 202 5.4.2 Kantian Transcendentalismand its Implications 204 5.5 Fichte's Responseto Kant's TranscendentalDeduction 206 5.5.1 Fichtean Experience 206 5.5.2 Fichte's Idealism and the Development of `Intellectual Intuition' 207 5.5.3 Determining the `I' with the `not-I' 209 5.5.4 Fichte's Dilemma 210 5.6. From Schelling to Hegel: An Introduction to Hegel's Thought 211 5.7 Hegel on Fichte's Wissenschaftslehre 213 5.8 The SpeculativeLogic of the `Absolute' 215 5.9 Conclusion 216 Chapter VI: The `Birth' of the Broken Middle 221 6.1 Introduction 221 6.2 A Summary of the Hegelian Enterprise 223 6.3 The Absolute as Real 226 6.3.1 Freedom in the Logic 226 6.3.2 The Bourgeois Form of Social Relations 228 6.4 Misrepresentationof Absolute Ethical Life 230 6.5 Hegel's SpeculativeExperience 232 6.6 SpeculativeLogic in the Broken Middle 234 6.7 Rose's assessmentof Hegelian Consciousness 235 6.8 Weil and Rose: the Significance of Social Relations 238 6.9 The Universe with a Broken Middle 243 6.10 Conclusion 245 Chapter VII: A SystematicPresentation of the Broken Middle 249 7.1 Introduction 249 7.2 The Importance of Beginning in the Middle 252 7.2.1 Hegel 252 7.2.2 Kierkegaard 254 7.3 Love in Violence and Violence in Love 258 7.4 The Truth of Rose's Configurations 261 7.4.1 `Holy Middles' in Political Theology 261 7.4.2 Milbank's Political Theology 263 7.4.3 The Terror of Holiness 265 7.5 Protestantismand `The Beautiful Soul' 266 7.5.1 Milbank's Augustine and the Problem of non-Interiority 266 7.5.2 The ProtestantEthic and `The Beautiful Soul' 268 7.6 `The Beautiful Soul' and the Supernatural 271 7.7 Authorships in `The Double Danger' 275 7.8 Rose: Personal Identity and Neo-Gnosticism 278 7.9 Conclusion 282 PART IV The Genesisof the Searchfor Salvation 285 Chapter VIII: Salvation: The `Movement' of Spirit 286 8.1 Introduction 286 8.2 Rose and Salvation in `The Third City' 290 8.2.1 The Broken Middle in the City 290 8.2.2 The Mourning of Phocion's Wife 291 8.2.3 Love's Work in `The Third City' 293 8.3 The Beloved: Repetition and `The Beautiful Soul' 295 8.4 The `Weilian Void' in `The Grave of Life' 299 8.4.1 The Void 299 8.4.2 The `Prologue' 300 8.4.3 The Fate of the `Prologue' 303 8.5 Salvation: To PassUnnoticed 305 8.6 Conclusion 309 Conclusions 312 Bibliography 319 Declaration: This piece of work is a result of independent research and original investigations.