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 1811 · Entry 6141

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English Page · Branch 2360 of 4529

YEAR 1811 · Entry 6141

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 4719

(A Nice, où je m’ennuye horriblement pour la première fois de ma vie.) Donc, pour entrer dans le sens des Péripatéticiens et pour parler leur langage en nous exprimant mieux qu’eux, nous dirions : « La lumière est un transparent, τὸ διαφανές, sans lequel on ne peut rien voir. » Mais comme cette définition peut convenir à l’œil il vaut mieux dire, pour observer la loi du genre et de la différence : « La lumière est un transparent hors de l’œil, sans lequel il ne peut rien voir. »

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1811

p. 4720

(At Nice, where I am horribly bored for the first time in my life.) Thus, to enter into the sense of the Peripatetics and to speak their language while expressing ourselves better than they do, we would say: “Light is a transparent, τὸ διαφανές, without which one can see nothing.” But since this definition can apply to the eye, it is better to say, to observe the law of genus and difference: “Light is a transparent outside the eye, without which it can see nothing.”

T27.A transparent preserves Joubert’s unusual substantive un transparent. The Greek means the transparent or what is transparent. Aristotle, De anima II.7, distinguishes the transparent from light, its activity or actuality; Joubert explicitly proposes his own reformulation. That background does not turn either sentence into a verbatim Aristotelian quotation. The first one renders on; the second it retains il and its available eye antecedent. The restriction outside the eye occurs only in the revised definition. The personal boredom remains in the same paragraph, and the Greek accent qualification remains separate source metadata.

T175.The place and personal circumstance remain inside the opening parenthesis. The two quoted definitions stay in the same physical paragraph. The first has on and the second il; they are not regularized to one pronoun. The Greek base letters support τὸ διαφανές; the article’s raised accent is reduced to a small solid mark and the final accent is compressed, so their exact directions remain qualified. The Greek is not given an additional italic style.

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.