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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Facing Pages · Branch 1883 of 3781
[On Locke] · Entry 1883
French
p. 37652 août.
Il y a dans le langage de l’école des mots nécessaires et clairs. Ils ont resté. Les autres ne se trouvent que dans les livres, où ils fatiguent... Locke en est plein, quoiqu’il ait contribué pour beaucoup à débrouiller, à épurer et, pour le dire ainsi, à humaniser cet idiome philosophique.
Mode mixte, par exemple. Je demande ce que cela peut signifier nécessairement, c’est à dire de manière qu’aucun autre mot ne puisse aussi bien l’exprimer. Ainsi que les mots de idées complexes, essence réelle et nominale.
Tous ces livres sont à la philosophie ce que les dictionnaires sont à la grammaire. Ils servent à fixer le sens des mots, mais ils ne donnent point d’idées. Défiez-vous dans ces livres des mots qui n’ont pas pu être introduits dans le monde et ne sont propres qu’à former une langue à part.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [On Locke]
p. 3766August 2.
There are necessary and clear words in the language of the schools. They have remained. The others are found only in books, where they weary... Locke is full of them, though he contributed greatly to disentangling, purifying, and, so to speak, humanizing this philosophical idiom.
Mixed mode, for example. I ask what this can signify necessarily, that is, in such a way that no other word could express it as well. Likewise the terms complex ideas, real and nominal essence.
All these books are to philosophy what dictionaries are to grammar. They serve to fix the sense of words, but give no ideas. In these books, distrust words that have been unable to enter the world and are fit only to form a language apart.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [On Locke] · Entry 1883
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.