Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
Facing Pages · Branch 736 of 3781
YEAR 1797 · Entry 736
French
p. 1471Sens intime. — Est un sens réel, une faculté véritable. Dans l’énumération des parties intégrantes dont le tout humain est composé, quiquonque omet de tenir compte de celle-là n’a fait et n’a pu faire qu’un dénombrement incomplet.
C’est notre tact intérieur, distinct de tous nos autres sens. Il a comme eux des propriétés et une destination.
Ses opérations sont aussi indispensables que les leurs. Qui le laisse inactif se nuit et met son propre esprit dans l’impossibilité de suffire aux travaux intellectuels les plus importans.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I: YEAR 1797
p. 1472Inner sense.—Is a real sense, a true faculty. In enumerating the constituent parts of which the human whole is composed, whoever fails to take account of this one has made, and could only have made, an incomplete reckoning.
It is our inward touch, distinct from all our other senses. Like them, it has its properties and its purpose.
Its operations are as indispensable as theirs. Whoever leaves it inactive harms himself and makes his own mind incapable of meeting the demands of the most important intellectual labors.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume I · YEAR 1797 · Entry 736
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.