Axiom

Use in the book

The imagined perfectly enlightened book contains axioms and facts instead of the padding of unresolved inquiry. Yet the law comparison defines an axiom through what has seemed most true, preserving a standpoint rather than asserting infallibility. Even astrology, condemned as false science, can possess axioms and truths while drawing false deductions. The flexible-language argument then claims that removing all verbal misuse would remove even axioms, and the Bacon report makes their formulation a demanding test of the mind. In geometry, an axiom in the head can be checked through a figure before the eyes; the criticized political demonstration lacks that same independently visible check. Axiom, valid procedure and true application therefore remain distinguishable.

Places to read

1. I, p. 126, entry 10, ¶1Axioms and facts characterize a hypothetical fully enlightened book.
2. I, p. 182–183, entry 7, ¶1An axiom declares what has seemed most true.
3. I, p. 224, entry 1, ¶1A false science can contain axioms and truths.
4. I, p. 305, entry 7, ¶1Axioms participate in the flexibility of words.
5. I, p. 404, entry 7, ¶1Their formulation tests a mind’s limits and reach.
6. II, p. 544, entry 4, ¶1A visible figure helps check the application of an axiom.

Translation in this edition

The English translation retains axiom and axioms, with seemed, the hypothetical if and the distinction between an axiom and its figure. The Bacon and d’Alembert references are reported through the notebook. The geometry comparison does not establish that the unnamed political author’s conclusion is false: Joubert explicitly allows that he may be right.