From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Force
force
Force is effective power, physical or inward strength, and the vigor with which an activity is performed.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordForce is effective power, physical or inward strength, and the vigor with which an activity is performed.
- In JoubertPhysical forces enter the late account of matter through gravitation, impenetrability, attraction, and impulse.
- In this editionThe English translation uses “forces” for the physical list and “strength” in the comparative judgments.
- A place to beginThe imposing vocabulary of physical force is set against matter’s imagined slightness.
- English renderings
- force; strength
Meaning
Force is effective power, physical or inward strength, and the vigor with which an activity is performed. It need not guarantee wisdom, truth, or excellence.
Use in the book
Physical forces enter the late account of matter through gravitation, impenetrability, attraction, and impulse. Yet that very passage reduces apparently enormous matter to hollow grains, a bubble, and a shadow. In a different comparison, strength belongs to earth, elevation to earth and heaven, and light to God. This hierarchy distinguishes vigor from illumination. The mind’s excellence is elsewhere expressly placed in patience and constancy rather than strength and fire, so a forceful performance can remain intellectually weak.
Places to read
- II, p. 906, entry 4, ¶1The imposing vocabulary of physical force is set against matter’s imagined slightness.
- II, p. 713, entry 2, ¶1Strength, elevation, and light are differentiated.
- II, p. 658, entry 5, ¶1Excellence is not identical with strength or fire.
Translation in this edition
The English translation uses “forces” for the physical list and “strength” in the comparative judgments. The late matter paragraph has damaged words retained in qualified English brackets; no modern force taxonomy is supplied.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, II, pp. 658, 713, 906.
From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Force
force; powerful impetus; strength of desire
Force is the strength with which something acts or moves another.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordForce is the strength with which something acts or moves another.
- In TraherneThe poem on news asks what hidden force moved the child’s desire toward distant happiness.
- In this editionRead “force” here as impetus rather than physical coercion.
- A place to beginThe poem asks about the secret force drawing childhood desire toward unknown good.
Meaning
Force is the strength with which something acts or moves another. In the relevant passages it is chiefly an inward impetus, not violence imposed by an external ruler.
Use in the book
The poem on news asks what hidden force moved the child’s desire toward distant happiness. The later argument answers at the level of human nature: desire can be so vehement that it supplies an initial motive where understanding is incomplete. This does not make desire a substitute for all knowledge. Its strength starts a search whose objects and means must subsequently be examined.
Places to read
In this edition
Read “force” here as impetus rather than physical coercion. Traherne’s account of love elsewhere explicitly resists constraint as contrary to its nature.