From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordAbsolute may mean complete or self-contained, while relative can mark a relation or dependence.
- In JoubertNature can make a thing finished and absolute in every point before charm is attached to it.
- In this editionThe English translation renders absolue as “complete” in the natural-form sentence but “absolute” in the historical account.
- A place to beginAbsolute is paired with completion of a natural thing.
- English renderings
- absolute; complete; relatives; correlatives
Meaning
Absolute may mean complete or self-contained, while relative can mark a relation or dependence. These terms are not laid out as a single systematic opposition in the selected notes.
Use in the book
Nature can make a thing finished and absolute in every point before charm is attached to it. The historical report about a philosophy in which God is absolute but not infinite explicitly warns that infinite had a bad sense there. That semantic warning matters more than importing a current definition. The very short note on relatives or correlatives concerning divine things remains a topic for investigation, not a finished explanation of how divine relations work.
Places to read
- I, p. 141, entry 4, ¶1Absolute is paired with completion of a natural thing.
- I, p. 412, entry 2, ¶1A reported historical usage contrasts absolute perfection with a pejorative infinite.
- II, p. 745, entry 6, ¶1Relatives or correlatives appear as an unelaborated topic.
Translation in this edition
The English translation renders absolue as “complete” in the natural-form sentence but “absolute” in the historical account. It keeps the terse divine-relations fragment terse and does not identify the unspecified historical school beyond its context.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 141, 412; II, pp. 745.