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 wordFamille names a domestic group, while affections domestiques describes attachments within domestic life.
- In JoubertThe fragment about families not warming themselves at the same fire or eating at the same hours makes disconnection visible through ordinary arrangements.
- In this editionThe English translation repeats the negative in the fire/meals fragment so that both forms of separation remain clear.
- A place to beginPaternal authority is discussed in a paragraph with an explicit authorship limitation.
- English renderings
- family; families
Meaning
Famille names a domestic group, while affections domestiques describes attachments within domestic life. Shared activity and durable feeling are central to the selected witnesses.
Use in the book
The fragment about families not warming themselves at the same fire or eating at the same hours makes disconnection visible through ordinary arrangements. Another note gives domestic affections a privileged duration within a sweeping judgment about the French. An earlier paragraph advocates paternal ownership and authority as producing love, but it has a decisive attribution limit: Beaunier says it is not in Joubert’s handwriting. Its presence must therefore be reported as transmitted material, not used to prove Joubert’s own family doctrine.
Places to read
- I, p. 128, entry 2, ¶1Paternal authority is discussed in a paragraph with an explicit authorship limitation.
- II, p. 678, entry 9, ¶1Separate fires and meal times figure a divided household.
- II, p. 827, entry 8, ¶1Domestic affections qualify a claim about lasting national feelings.
Translation in this edition
The English translation repeats the negative in the fire/meals fragment so that both forms of separation remain clear. It does not name a household behind the observation or endorse the national generalization. The paternal paragraph’s qualification applies specifically to that paragraph.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 128; II, pp. 678, 827. Beaunier marks I.128 e02 p01 as not in Joubert’s handwriting; it is retained only as a qualified witness in the printed notebooks.