Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · Bilingual Edition
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II
Complete Notebooks · French with an independent English translation.
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Facing Pages · Branch 3210 of 4529
YEAR 1814 · Entry 6991
French
p. 6419Pouvoir exécutif, etc. Ce sont là des chiffres. On a porté dans la politique (et dans la morale elle même) les procédés et presque le langage de l’algèbre. On se sert de mots abstraits au lieu de lettres. On combine ces mots obscurs; on croit s’entendre et s’éclairer parce qu’on a remué des ombres. Et en effet toutes ces notions obscures qu’ont introduit[es] ces mots nouveaux ne sont pour l’esprit que des ombres, sans corps, sans réalité, sans beauté.
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1814
p. 6420Executive power, etc. Those are ciphers. One has brought into politics (and into morality itself) the procedures and almost the language of algebra. One uses abstract words instead of letters. One combines these obscure words; one thinks one understands and gains light because one has stirred shadows. And indeed all these obscure notions that these new words have introduced are for the mind only shadows, without body, without reality, without beauty.
Socrates
Reading The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II · YEAR 1814 · Entry 6991
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 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.