The Attention Crisis: How Modern Work Breaks Us | Simone Weil

Philosopheasy Podcast · Mar 18, 2025 · 20m

In this video, we dive deep into the profound and often unsettling ideas of Simone Weil, a 20th-century philosopher, mystic, and activist who offered a scathing critique of modern work. Long before "quiet quitting" and "burnout" became buzzwords, Weil explored the ways in which industrial labor – and, by extension, many forms of contemporary work – systematically dehumanize us, fragment our attention, and leave us feeling spiritually empty. We'll examine her concepts of "attention" as a form of prayer, "malheur" (affliction) as the consequence of uprootedness, and "The Great Beast" as the…