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 wordInstinct is a direct or unreflective disposition, but it belongs to both animals and humans in these notebooks.
- In JoubertThe “inner sense” is explicitly glossed as moral and intellectual instinct, capable of becoming keen or remaining dormant.
- In this editionThe English translation retains both “moral” and “intellectual” in the first gloss.
- A place to beginMoral and intellectual instinct glosses inner sense.
- English renderings
- instinct
Meaning
Instinct is a direct or unreflective disposition, but it belongs to both animals and humans in these notebooks. It is not simply the opposite of every intelligent act.
Use in the book
The “inner sense” is explicitly glossed as moral and intellectual instinct, capable of becoming keen or remaining dormant. The comparison of animal instinct, human reason, and angelic penetration then locates the human difference in knowing its own limits. Some honorable feelings contain instinct and necessity stronger or better than calculation and reason. The variation makes it unsafe to convert instinct into a fixed lower rung in every context.
Places to read
- I, p. 187, entry 11, ¶1Moral and intellectual instinct glosses inner sense.
- II, p. 570, entry 10, ¶1Reason, unlike instinct, is said to know its boundaries.
- II, p. 744, entry 12, ¶1Honorable feelings can derive strength from instinct and necessity.
Translation in this edition
The English translation retains both “moral” and “intellectual” in the first gloss. The last witness has a provisionally read final comma; its note also allows a damaged period, so no lost continuation is asserted. “Better or more powerful” is not reduced to a single idea of greater force.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 187; II, pp. 570, 744.