Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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English Page · Branch 1605 of 3781
YEAR 1800 · Entry 1605
French
p. 3209Nous rapportons la pensée à la tête comme nous rapportons la douleur au pied. L’âme est dans tout le corps; mais si elle est dans tout le corps on peut concevoir son milieu et ses extrémités aux deux bouts. Nous avons beau dire qu’elle n’a pas d’étendue, nous ne pouvons la concevoir que bornée et par conséquent circonscrite. On ne conçoit pas, a-t-on dit, une moitié ni un quart d’âme. Non, car en la concevant bornée on la conçoit indivisible. Elle est monade. Conçoit-on la moitié d’un globe de savon?
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1800
p. 3210We refer thought to the head as we refer pain to the foot. The soul is in the whole body; but if it is in the whole body, one can conceive its middle and its extremities at the two ends. However much we say that it has no extension, we can conceive it only as bounded and consequently circumscribed. One cannot conceive, it has been said, half or a quarter of a soul. No, for in conceiving it as bounded one conceives it as indivisible. It is a monad. Can one conceive half a soap bubble?
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1800 · Entry 1605
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Joubert’s notebooks return to the work of thinking and writing, the demands of friendship, and questions of faith, beauty and conduct. This edition pairs the French with a new English translation, preserving the order of the chosen source and the unfinished character of its fragments. Dates and source references allow readers to follow a thought through time or return to its printed context.
Historical Text and Translation
The French text follows André Beaunier’s 1938 edition of Les Carnets de Joseph Joubert, published by Gallimard from Joubert’s autograph manuscripts. Volume I presents the entries on printed pages 32–475. French and English are aligned paragraph by paragraph, retaining the source order, printed dates and page references so readers can return to the facsimile.
About Diotimos Editions
Diotimos Editions prepared this new English translation directly from the French, preserving Joubert’s distinctions, recurring images, ambiguities and unfinished thoughts. Translator’s notes clarify wording, references and uncertain readings: Essential keeps notes that help explain a passage, while All includes technical detail. Annotations from the 1938 source edition remain distinct from the new translator’s notes.
Rights
The linked facsimile records identify the French source as public domain in the United States. The new English translation and editorial notes are © 2026 Diotimos, with source annotations and new editorial contributions credited separately. This edition pairs the complete French notebooks with an independent English translation, preserving the distinction between Joubert’s text and its accompanying notes.