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 wordChemistry supplies operations with which Joubert tests philosophy and reading.
- In JoubertIn the criticism of certain philosophers, a crucible leaves an intellectual residue that can be named but no longer pictured or felt.
- In this editionThe English translation renders printed chymie as chemistry, preserves crucible and alembics, and uses subliming for sublimant.
- A place to beginThe crucible models abstraction that leaves an inert residue.
- English renderings
- chemistry
Meaning
Chemistry supplies operations with which Joubert tests philosophy and reading. The value of the operation depends on what it leaves available for thought or life.
Use in the book
In the criticism of certain philosophers, a crucible leaves an intellectual residue that can be named but no longer pictured or felt. The contrast between the chemistry of the stomach and that of alembics asks instead for a transformation necessary to existence. Neither comparison makes every form of separation bad. When Joubert seeks an alternative to analysis, subliming suggests detaching character or effigy while leaving the whole intact. The analogy is explicitly approximate, and his lexical search initially remains unsuccessful.
Places to read
- I, p. 234–235, entry 12, ¶1The crucible models abstraction that leaves an inert residue.
- I, p. 263, entry 3, ¶1Necessary assimilation differs from alembic chemistry.
- II, p. 644, entry 9, ¶1Subliming offers an approximate model for extracting character without dividing the whole.
Translation in this edition
The English translation renders printed chymie as chemistry, preserves crucible and alembics, and uses subliming for sublimant. The final operation is not described as a modern chemical procedure. French abstraire is retained where the problem concerns the construction of a French verb.
Mordant
French: mordant.
A mordant is the named substance in the comparison with painters separating a painting from its canvas. The English translation retains the term and its existing note locates this use in the described transfer process. The philosophical comparison concerns separating natures from individual existences; neither the source nor this gloss specifies a universal chemical recipe or a complete account of restoration practice.
Places to read: I, p. 210, entry 5, ¶1.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 210, 234, 235, 263; II, pp. 644.