DiotimosReading Desk

Cognition

Assertion

assertion

An assertion advances a claim or position.

From the book

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II

Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →

Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordAn assertion advances a claim or position.
  • In JoubertThe first criticism concerns people who value indisputable assertions as a power and prerogative.
  • In this editionThe English translation retains assertion throughout.
  • A place to beginIndisputable claims may be valued as a form of power.
English renderings
assertion; assertions

Meaning

An assertion advances a claim or position. Joubert contrasts its solid, explicit character with the nourishment of reading and with an idea’s opening of a view; he also examines the authority a claim can acquire without warrant.

Use in the book

The first criticism concerns people who value indisputable assertions as a power and prerogative. The nourishing-reading passage does not call assertions useless: it says they are not what most nourishes the mind, beside the invisible juice or salt of great writing. Physical systems can falsely promote suppositions into assertions, disguising their comparative origin. In revising a formulation attributed to La Harpe, Joubert calls thought an assertion and idea a glimpse; position-taking contains more will, the view more intelligence. The final maxim exposes a danger of delivery: bold assertion can make error deceive with authority. Explicitness, confidence and truth therefore remain separate questions.

Places to read

  1. I, p. 166, entry 5, ¶1Indisputable claims may be valued as a form of power.
  2. I, p. 202, entry 1, ¶1Assertions are not reading’s most nourishing element.
  3. I, p. 248, entry 6, ¶1Systems can turn suppositions into assertions.
  4. I, p. 291, entry 4, ¶2Assertion takes a position where an idea opens a view.
  5. II, p. 766, entry 9, ¶1Boldness can lend authority to error.

Translation in this edition

The English translation retains assertion throughout. “More will” and “more intelligence” preserve comparisons, not mutually exclusive faculties. The bracketed La Harpe identification is supplied by the source editor. The reading passage’s “most” and “more nourishing” are essential to its distinction.

Source note

Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 166, 202, 248, 291; II, pp. 766.