Simone Weil was first of all a philosopher. And that from the beginning. But neither his subjects were the most conventional nor above all was his way of approaching them: a method of reading the philosophical and literary texts that he learned from the hand of Alain (Émile Chartier). Of the relationship with his teacher he will say later: "There is a part of his thought that I have assimilated to the point of not being able to distinguish it from my own thought, and another that I have rejected". Above all, it will be marked by its demand for intellectual probity, together with the tireless criticism of forms of power.
Apart from the first works that emerged in Alain's class between 1925 and 1928, this edition contains the two essays of 1929, "From the perception or adventure of Proteus" and "From time", the memory for the Diploma of Higher Studies of 1930, «Science and perception in Descartes», and later texts on issues such as work or law. Thanks to these writings we see how a thought is generated and to what extent it has imprinted the trace of the environment that gave rise to it, and this despite the radicality that Simone Weil's initial social concern will acquire and despite the illumination of an inspiration mystical unpredictability in his philosophical training.