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 3507 of 3781
[Malebranche.] · Entry 3507
French
p. 7013« Ames dans les bêtes... espèces intentionnelles... ou de semblables choses (dit-il) dont on ne trouve point de notion particulière dans son esprit. » Ce dont on ne peut trouver aucune notion préalable dans son esprit doit être rejetté, car cela ne peut servir de rien pour la clarté... Mais les notions que nous avons sont suffisantes pour nous faire concevoir ou même imaginer une espèce d’Ame dans les bêtes.
Quant aux espèces intentionnelles, leur dénomination est obscure et rebuttante et peut-être c’est ce qu’elles ont de pire, car si leurs partisans avoient entendu par là des espèces d’images propres à soutenir et à fixer l’attention sans être vues, peut-être on auroit trouvé, à les admettre, une commodité, une facilité à expliquer certaines choses, qui en eût justifié l’invention. Pourvu que l’esprit ne soit pas la duppe de ses propres hypothèses et ne traite pas comme des réalités ses pures suppositions, il doit lui être permis d’en faire, et tenir pour bonnes toutes celles qui sont utiles à l’usage. On s’est fort bien trouvé, dans la physique, de se servir de « l’attraction »; mais on finit par trop y croire.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [Malebranche.]
p. 7014“Souls in beasts... intentional species... or such things (he says) of which one finds no particular notion in one’s mind.” What one can find no prior notion of in one’s mind must be rejected, for it can be of no use for clarity... But the notions we have suffice to make us conceive or even imagine a kind of Soul in beasts.
As for intentional species, their designation is obscure and repellent, and perhaps that is the worst thing about them, for if their proponents had meant by them kinds of images fitted to sustain and fix attention without being seen, perhaps admitting them would have afforded a convenience, an ease in explaining certain things, that would have justified their invention. Provided the mind is not the dupe of its own hypotheses and does not treat its mere suppositions as realities, it should be allowed to make them, and to hold as good all those useful in use. In physics, the use of “attraction” has served very well; but one ends by believing in it too much.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [Malebranche.] · Entry 3507
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.