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← ExitThe Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Reading language

YEAR 1818

An irreligious piety, a corrupting severity, a dogmatism that destroys all authority: such is the character of Rousseau’s philosophy.

All this makes one feel God. God forces us to see the sun as round and to have this idea of it.

March 7.

Justice without force, force without justice, dreadful misfortunes.

Add. Legitimacy incapable or, worse still, itself unworthy, a misfortune surpassing all others.

March 9.

Religion. I believe it (speaking philosophically, that is, setting aside all authority and preferring the experience one has to the experience one does not have), I believe it, I say, still more necessary to this life than to the other.

“Questions (the doctor said today) show the breadth of the mind, and answers its fineness.” Not badly said.

March 12.

Pleasure is only the happiness of a point in the body. True happiness, the only happiness, all happiness lies in the well-being of the whole soul.

March 15.

Of strength of mind and strength of brain. Strength of brain makes the obstinate; and strength of mind, firm characters.

General truths are God’s truths. Particular truths are only man’s opinions.

Spirit and matter, soul and body, God and the world: there are the principle and the causes of all good, all evil, all virtue, all vice, all order and all disorder.

March […]1.

God is a light that sees. A light that sees everything.

March […]3.

Grounds for credibility and grounds for credulity. The latter are numberless; and the former are not lacking. But we feel them less because they are outside us. The others are founded on our nature and spring from all its pores.

March 24.

To have eyes with double bottoms, half looking ahead of us to guide us, and the other half turned inward to govern us.

T13.All three paradoxical descriptions and the universal all remain as Joubert’s characterization. No specific Rousseau text is asserted.

T263.The three-part nominal opening, toute, colon and literal authorité with h remain. The long curved mark beside qui is outside the type line and is not treated as a parenthesis or authorial insertion. The right-edge dogmatisme/de are identifiable.

T14.All this, repeated God, force and both coordinated acts remain. As makes the predicative round relation readable without changing it into an assertion about the sun’s physical shape beyond the source.

T264.Repeated Dieu, nous, infinitive coordination and demonstrative cette remain. The final et on the first line is complete; no margin loss is supplied.

T15.The reciprocal formulation and final nominal plural remain, without supplying a linking verb.

T16.Add. remains Joubert’s abbreviated cue in a separate main paragraph, not a translator instruction. Incapacity, the worse alternative, itself and all others remain without naming a government.

T17.The repeated I believe, long parenthesis, all authority, opposed experience, I say and comparative still more remain. The other life is not supplied with a theological description.

T266.The complete day 9, full long parenthesis, unhyphenated c’est à dire, authorité, repeated je la crois/expérience and the positive/negative relative contrast remain. The adjacent a and à are distinct. The repeated comparative and relative lives retain their printed order; the néces-/saire wrap is complete.

T18.The reporting parenthesis remains inside the quotation, and Joubert’s response remains outside. Breadth and fineness keep the paired qualities; today does not supply an invented calendar date or identify the doctor.

T267.The whole quotation encloses the parenthetic report and retains its period before the closing guillemet; the final comment is outside it. Étenduë has two distinct raised e components in color and native. The second predicate remains omitted; no doctor is identified.

S1.Source editor’s annotationNotebook: “Catalogue of my books — March 12, 1818.” Etc.

T19.The first restriction and all three repeated happiness formulations remain. Point retains the localized bodily image; whole soul preserves the totality of the contrasting condition.

T23.The quoted notebook label and its internal full date remain a separate source annotation attached to the main March 12 date. The capital Etc. is outside the quotation. No catalogue contents are supplied.

T268.The complete day 12 carries a raised 1 after mars and before the separate terminal period. The restrictive opening and three repeated bonheur formulations, vrai/seul/tout and toute l’âme remain. Bien-être has its printed hyphen; the bon-/heur wrap is complete.

T269.One complete roman editorial paragraph remains separate from the main text. The quoted notebook title, internal dash and full March 12 1818 date remain within the apparatus; no new main date is created. The quoted period precedes the closing guillemet, and separate Etc. follows it.

T20.The opening fragment, four strengths and mind/brain distinction remain. English uses a semicolon for the source comma between the parallel clauses, retaining the second omitted verb and the distinction between obstinacy and firmness.

T270.The complete day 15, nominal opening, four repeated force constructions and omitted second fait remain. Entêtés retains the circumflex; all right endings are intact.

T21.The repeated truths, opposed possessors and final only remain without a new explanation of the epistemological claim.

T271.The repeated vérités, general/particular opposition and restrictive ne...que remain. The particu-/lières wrap is complete.

T22.The three ordered pairs and all six final terms remain, as do singular principle and plural causes. Spirit here renders esprit in explicit opposition to matter. The colon clarifies the source’s comma before voilà without resolving the relation between the paired terms.

T272.The three paired opening terms, singular principe versus plural causes and all six repeated universal qualifiers remain. All main and apparatus text on 870 is roman. The source collation records the 870 upper marks, detached trace between idée/vient, complete right margins, dates, two-paragraph Add. block, raised call and complete apparatus, with the individual reading qualifications retained.

T24.The second sentence remains a fragment repeating the seeing light, now with everything. The active sight is not changed to a light by which others see.

T273.Only terminal 1 is complete; the preceding detached upper/right stroke does not certify a numeral. The repeated lumière qui voit and final tout remain; the second statement retains its nominal form.

T25.The two kinds of grounds, latter/former/others sequence, negative lack and less/outside relation remain. The pores image refers to our nature. English uses ordinary plural agreement for the collated singular il before plural naissent; the French anomaly is retained without correction.

T274.Only terminal 3 is certified; preceding separated components do not recover the earlier numeral. The singular il before plural naissent is visibly printed in both original-size witnesses and remains uncorrected. The repeated motifs, derniers/premiers/autres contrasts, sans, negative and comparative moins remain. The left starts nombre/moins/notre retain identifiable foreground stems and arches in color, despite their native degradation and surrounding show-through; no extra loss is inserted.

T26.The infinitive and double-bottom image remain without an anatomical explanation. Both halves and their purposes are retained. English uses participles under the desired to-have construction for the source’s indicative regarde and subjunctive soit tournée, rather than inventing a second speaker or imperative.

T275.The first numeral 2 is abraded but retains a curved upper body, diagonal transition and lower foot in color, supporting the qualified complete 24; the native contour is more broken. The infinitive opening, literal fonds with s, two dont clauses and indicative regarde/subjunctive soit distinction remain. The left pour/nous are identifiable.