Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition

Joseph Joubert

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II

Name: The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Author: Joseph Joubert

Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.

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The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume IIYEAR 1808 · Entry 5648

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French Page · Branch 1867 of 4529

YEAR 1808 · Entry 5648

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 3733

Si ce qui est rigoureusement vrai comme conséquence n’est pas isolément et en soi une vérité qui contente l’esprit, cela n’est pas assés vrai et d’une vérité utile. Pour qu’une proposition ait une vérité bonne, il faut (comme auroit dit l’école) que cette proposition soit vraie comme conséquence et comme conséquent. Ou plutôt il faut que le conséquent soit vrai dans la conséquence. Le raisonnement étant une machine à l’aide de laquelle on veut faire entrer dans l’esprit une opinion à laquelle il n’est pas assés préparé. Réduire ses adversaire au silence n’est pas les convaincre, mais seulement les embarrasser, avantage ignoble.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1808

p. 3734

If what is rigorously true as an inference is not, in isolation and in itself, a truth that contents the mind, it is not true enough and of a useful truth. For a proposition to possess a good truth, that proposition must (as the schools would have said) be true as an inference and as a consequent. Or rather the consequent must be true in the inference. Reasoning being a machine by means of which one wishes to bring into the mind an opinion for which it is not sufficiently prepared. To silence one’s adversaries is not to convince them, but merely to embarrass them, an ignoble advantage.

T181.Inference and consequent keep conséquence and conséquent distinct in the stated scholastic comparison: the inferential relation and what follows in it are not treated as interchangeable. The awkward coordination not true enough and of a useful truth remains, as does the sentence beginning Reasoning being without a finite main verb. The French prints singular adversaire after plural ses; English adversaries follows the plural possessive and subsequent pronouns. The Encyclopédie’s period logical entries define conséquence as the inferential connection to premises and conséquent as the proposition inferred, distinguishing the validity of a connection from the truth of its premises.

T558.The coordination n’est pas assés vrai et d’une vérité utile remains unchanged, and the sentence beginning Le raisonnement étant has no supplied finite main verb. An enlarged facsimile confirms singular adversaire after ses.

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 II continues the notebooks and includes seventy undated pieces. 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.