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 2180 of 3781
[ON KANT.] · Entry 2180
French
p. 4359Et en quoi consistent les divers plaisirs que nous causent les livres, les tableaux, les entretiens, etc. si ce n’est en ce qu’ils nous montrent (plus ou moins) à nud des pensées, des idées, des esprits, des âmes plus ou moins entières, parfaites, complètes? Et qu’est-ce qui vous plait dans les arrangemens fortuits ou dispositions de la nature brute, si ce n’est ce qui ressemble plus ou moins à une pensée, un dessein, desseins ou pensées qui nous plaisent d’autant plus que n’étant pas rigoureusement déterminés, ils nous laissent l’avantage de les concevoir tels que nous les aimons le mieux?
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [ON KANT.]
p. 4360And in what do the various pleasures that books, paintings, conversations, etc. give us consist, if not in their showing us (more or less) naked thoughts, ideas, minds, souls more or less whole, perfect, complete? And what pleases you in the chance arrangements or dispositions of raw nature, if not what resembles, more or less, a thought, a design, designs or thoughts that please us all the more because, not being rigorously determined, they leave us the advantage of conceiving them as we like them best?
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [ON KANT.] · Entry 2180
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.