From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Change
changement
Change may affect things, languages, or the explanations people give of things.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordChange may affect things, languages, or the explanations people give of things.
- In JoubertThe scientific remark identifies many changes called progress as changed ways of conceiving causes and effects.
- In this editionThe English translation retains “most” in the scientific claim, not all, and the fragmentary alternative introduced by “Or” in the ray comparison.
- A place to beginChanges of scientific explanation are distinguished from the name progress.
- English renderings
- change; changes
Meaning
Change may affect things, languages, or the explanations people give of things. A new explanation is not automatically a changed object or genuine progress.
Use in the book
The scientific remark identifies many changes called progress as changed ways of conceiving causes and effects. The linguistic reflection is similarly ambivalent: the inventive spirit that created languages can deteriorate them by persisting. The comparison of a ray or a movement passing through a mass without changing it further separates motion and alteration. These distinctions keep novelty, movement, and improvement from being treated as interchangeable.
Places to read
- II, p. 686, entry 2, ¶1Changes of scientific explanation are distinguished from the name progress.
- II, p. 528–529, entry 12, ¶1Continued invention can damage languages it helped create.
- I, p. 472, entry 4, ¶1Movement through a mass is imagined without alteration.
Translation in this edition
The English translation retains “most” in the scientific claim, not all, and the fragmentary alternative introduced by “Or” in the ray comparison. The lexicon does not turn these local cautions into a rejection of every change.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 472; II, pp. 528, 529, 686.
From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Change
change; changed; changeable; transformation
Change is becoming otherwise, whether in location, judgment, conduct, or condition.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordChange is becoming otherwise, whether in location, judgment, conduct, or condition.
- In TraherneHeaven cannot be established by relocating a body while leaving its principles unaltered.
- In this edition“Change of place” is expressly distinguished from spiritual amendment.
- A place to beginThe child’s early clarity is changed by the repeated influence of custom and example.
Meaning
Change is becoming otherwise, whether in location, judgment, conduct, or condition. Traherne distinguishes movement to a different place from the inward transformation necessary for happiness.
Use in the book
Heaven cannot be established by relocating a body while leaving its principles unaltered. An angel can be happy anywhere and a devil miserable because their ways of apprehending and willing differ. Human changeability, however, is not simply a flaw. A creature able to choose can participate freely in a divine likeness, whereas a fixed nature would lack that dignity of self-direction. The history of childhood provides the darker possibility: an original clarity is eclipsed through education and example. Transformation must therefore be assessed by its direction. The important question is not whether one's condition has become novel, but whether one's powers are being exercised toward their true objects.
Places to read
In this edition
“Change of place” is expressly distinguished from spiritual amendment. “Changeable” in IV.79 concerns the freedom to shape a life, not merely emotional instability.
Source note
Primary text: III.7, IV.37, IV.79. IV.37 and IV.79 assign different values to spatial alteration and free transformability.