From Material to Thought. The Epistemological Value of Work in Simone Weil and Antonio Gramsci

Abstract

This essay explores the gnoseological value attributed to manual labor in the thought of Simone Weil and Antonio Gramsci. Simone Weil conceives manual labor as a fundamental vehicle for accessing ontological truth, thereby promoting an integration between bodily experience and intellectual activity that facilitates a deep and authentic understanding of reality, while also denying any possible hierarchy between manual labor and intellectual work. Gramsci, within the framework of his theory of praxis, considers labor as an essential component of the historical-social process and the formation of individual consciousness, not only as a productive activity but also as an intellectual and creative act that contributes to the transformation of social and political reality. Both philosophers identify the body as the element that connects the merely productive and mechanical dimension of manual labor with its theoretical and ethical-practical dimension, even in a political sense.

Simone Weil; Antonio Gramsci; Work; Body; Philosophy of Praxis.