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 1816 · Entry 7639

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Facing Pages · Branch 3858 of 4529

YEAR 1816 · Entry 7639

Translator notesBook Mode

French

p. 7715

28 juin.

Tous les peuples sauvages descendent de quelque peuple civilisé La nature eut en effet « jetté (comme ils disent) l’homme nud »; mai[…] la providence ne l’a pas fait. En thèse générale — sans exception e[…] historiquement parlant — la barbarie est une dégénération et no[…] pas un premier état. Tout sauvage annonce un débris. L’état de natur[…] n’a jamais existé pour l’homme que par accident. Il a été créé dan[…] un état de providence.

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volume II: YEAR 1816

p. 7716

June 28.

All savage peoples descend from some civilized people. Nature would indeed have “cast (as they say) man naked”; [but] providence did not do so. As a general proposition — without exception [and] historically speaking — barbarism is a degeneration and [not] an original state. Every savage bespeaks a remnant. The state of [nature] has never existed for man except by accident. He was created [in] a state of providence.

T101.The historical savage/civilized taxonomy, universal claims, some, parenthetic reported wording, degeneration/original opposition and nature/providence contrast remain Joubert’s. Would have is a contextual hypothetical-past reading of printed plain eut; the French is not repaired to eût and this interpretation remains qualified. Remnant renders débris without supplying a named lost civilization. The English period after people separates the visibly distinct clauses, although no terminal mark is certified after French civilisé at the folded edge; no lost French punctuation is claimed recovered. [But], [and], [not], [nature] and [in] broadly render mai[…], e[…], no[…], natur[…] and dan[…], without certifying missing letters.

T274.The color witness supports a qualified final é in civilisé, but no following terminal mark is certified at the folded edge; none is supplied in the French source before La. At the other interrupted endings, only mai/e/no/natur/dan are complete. The native 384 remnants do not establish their missing final letters. Plain eut is retained without a circumflex. Jetté has doubled t, nud ends in d, and the complete inner parenthesis and closing guillemet precede the semicolon. Both internal dashes, sans exception, repeated negative/restrictive forms, all/every degrees and compound-perfect predicates remain.

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.