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 wordCause and effect distinguish what brings about something from what results.
- In JoubertIllusion is said to belong to reality as effect belongs to cause, so the comparison asserts dependence rather than treating illusion as merely extraneous error.
- In this editionThe paired English terms preserve these relations.
- A place to beginThe bond explains illusion’s integral relation to reality.
- English renderings
- cause; effect
Meaning
Cause and effect distinguish what brings about something from what results. Their bond also supplies comparisons for mental, artistic, and historical relations.
Use in the book
Illusion is said to belong to reality as effect belongs to cause, so the comparison asserts dependence rather than treating illusion as merely extraneous error. The aphorism that causes are subtle while effects alone are palpable separates explanatory grounds from what is immediately grasped. A sentence can make that relation perceptible by having one word indicate the cause of an effect another has named. Causality here becomes a resource of verbal texture as well as an object of philosophical reflection.
Places to read
- I, p. 127, entry 1, ¶1The bond explains illusion’s integral relation to reality.
- II, p. 504, entry 5, ¶1Subtle causes are contrasted with palpable effects.
- II, p. 536, entry 3, ¶1Words can reveal a cause–effect relation through sentence structure.
Translation in this edition
The paired English terms preserve these relations. French cause can also mean a case or cause advocated by an orator; the argument on II.695 uses that sense, so it is not a direct witness for efficient causation.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 127; II, pp. 504, 536.