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Full Idea
The chief danger does not lie in the collectivity's tendency to circumscribe the person, but in the person's tendency to immolate himself in the collective.
Gist of Idea
The problem of the collective is not suppression of persons, but persons erasing themselves
Source
Simone Weil (Human Personality [1943], p.78)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.78
A Reaction
I'm guessing that in 1943 she had in mind both Nazis and Communists. She seems to articulate a strong form of liberalism in an interesting way. It sounds like a form of Bad Faith.
Related Idea
Idea 23747 What is sacred is not a person, but the whole physical human being [Weil]