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 wordIndifférence can register a waning attachment, a pose of superiority or an inclination toward aversion; it is not identical with generous restraint.
- In JoubertThe sequence pairing patience with affliction and resignation with necessity ends by bringing indifference to life alongside inability to preserve it.
- In this editionThe English translation retains the qualification false in the air of superiority and rather in the comparison with aversion.
- A place to beginIndifference to life is linked to inability to preserve it.
- English renderings
- indifference
Meaning
Indifférence can register a waning attachment, a pose of superiority or an inclination toward aversion; it is not identical with generous restraint.
Use in the book
The sequence pairing patience with affliction and resignation with necessity ends by bringing indifference to life alongside inability to preserve it. The account links an attitude with its occasion without commanding it. Another sentence warns that indifference can merely look superior. The explicit distinction from indulgence then removes an easy alibi: lack of concern does not become love simply because it refrains from censure. The preference rather toward aversion describes a tendency, while indulgence inclines toward love. These differences keep emotional distance from being automatically classified as either wisdom or cruelty.
Places to read
- II, p. 482, entry 2, ¶1Indifference to life is linked to inability to preserve it.
- II, p. 724, entry 1, ¶1Apparent superiority may be false.
- II, p. 886, entry 6, ¶1Indulgence and indifference are assigned different affective directions.
Translation in this edition
The English translation retains the qualification false in the air of superiority and rather in the comparison with aversion. It leaves the objects of the opening To love them all unnamed. Mal in the first witness is affliction rather than moral evil.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, II, pp. 482, 724, 886.