DiotimosReading Desk

Moral life

Credulity

crédulité; crédibilité

Crédulité concerns readiness to believe, but the notebooks separate its inward motives from external grounds of credibility and from faith’s teachableness.

From the book

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II

Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordCrédulité concerns readiness to believe, but the notebooks separate its inward motives from external grounds of credibility and from faith’s teachableness.
  • In JoubertThe credulity that comes from the heart is said to do no harm to the mind.
  • In this editionThe English translation retains credibility for crédibilité and credulity for crédulité.
  • A place to beginHeart-derived credulity is declared harmless to mind.
English renderings
credulity; credibility

Meaning

Crédulité concerns readiness to believe, but the notebooks separate its inward motives from external grounds of credibility and from faith’s teachableness.

Use in the book

The credulity that comes from the heart is said to do no harm to the mind. Elsewhere the defect of credulity is contrasted sharply with faith: weakness is not the gentle receptivity compatible with strength. These formulations should remain contextual rather than forced into one verdict. The comparison with presumption adds that overconfidence brings as many errors as credulity, so refusing to trust others is no guarantee of truth. Finally, grounds for credulity spring from our own nature while grounds for credibility lie outside us and are felt less. The distinction concerns why we believe as well as what merits belief.

Places to read

  1. I, p. 470, entry 8, ¶1Heart-derived credulity is declared harmless to mind.
  2. II, p. 686, entry 3, ¶1Presumption and credulity are compared as sources of error.
  3. II, p. 739, entry 3, ¶1Credulity’s weakness is distinguished from faithful teachableness.
  4. II, p. 871, entry 2, ¶1External credibility differs from inward motives for credulity.

Translation in this edition

The English translation retains credibility for crédibilité and credulity for crédulité. Teachableness interprets docilité in the explicit strength/weakness contrast. The faith comparison retains bracketed contextual completions, and the pores image remains an image of human nature.

Source note

Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 470; II, pp. 686, 739, 871.