Editing Simone Weil (section)

===''The Need for Roots''===
{{main|The Need for Roots}}

Weil's book ''The Need for Roots'' ({{langx|fr|L'Enracinement}}) was written in early 1943, immediately before her death later that year. In it Weil presents a morality based on compassion rather than the rule of law.<ref name=":12" /> At this time Weil was in London working for the [[French Resistance]] and trying to convince its leader, [[Charles de Gaulle]], to form a contingent of nurses, including Weil, who would parachute to the front lines.{{r|Zaretsky|p=10}} Weil's intention was partially for these nurses to provide care, but also to offer an inspiring moral opposite to Nazism with Weil stating "it may be that our victory depends upon the presence among us of a corresponding inspiration, but authentic and pure".{{r|Zaretsky|p=154}}

''The Need for Roots'' has an ambitious plan. It sets out to address the past and to propose a road map for the future of France after World War&nbsp;II. She painstakingly analyzes the spiritual and ethical [[Social environment|milieu]] that led to France's defeat by the German army, and then addresses these issues with the prospect of eventual French victory.