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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French Page · Branch 3550 of 3781
[Malebranche.] · Entry 3550
French
p. 7099Il n’y avoit point encore de hazard et de nature, mais tout a été fait par art, par volonté. Nous avons appellé nature les mouvemens de la machine que Dieu a faite par son art et nous appellons hazard ce qui se fait sans notre participation et en apparence sans le concours de la nature. De manière que le hazard et la nature sont deux manières de concevoir les causes; manières qui appartiennent à notre esprit, en sorte qu’on peut dire que la nature n’est venue qu’après l’homme.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: [Malebranche.]
p. 7100There was as yet neither chance nor nature, but everything was made by art, by will. We have called nature the movements of the machine God made by his art, and we call chance what happens without our participation and apparently without nature’s concurrence. So chance and nature are two ways of conceiving causes; ways that belong to our mind, so that one can say nature came only after man.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · [Malebranche.] · Entry 3550
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.