From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Malice
méchanceté; méchant
Méchanceté names wickedness, rather than every misfortune or every use of mal.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordMéchanceté names wickedness, rather than every misfortune or every use of mal.
- In JoubertThe lexical reflection places wickedness among qualities whose names approach abstraction rather than lovable affective qualities.
- In this editionThe English translation consistently gives wickedness or wicked in these witnesses.
- A place to beginWickedness appears in a reflection on abstract names of qualities.
- English renderings
- wickedness; wicked
Meaning
Méchanceté names wickedness, rather than every misfortune or every use of mal. It can concern the disposition of a person and the plausibility of dramatic characterization.
Use in the book
The lexical reflection places wickedness among qualities whose names approach abstraction rather than lovable affective qualities. The polemical account of people who love disorder says wickedness protects them against mistakenly trusting their natural adversaries: moral defect can sharpen a hostile discrimination. The Euripides note approves criticism of gratuitous wickedness assigned to Menelaus. That is a claim about the necessity of characterization, not a prohibition on portraying any wicked character.
Places to read
- I, p. 233, entry 3, ¶3Wickedness appears in a reflection on abstract names of qualities.
- II, p. 889, entry 5, ¶2Hostile moral recognition is contrasted with the trust of good people.
- II, p. 924, entry 5, ¶1Gratuitous wickedness is criticized as a dramatic choice.
Translation in this edition
The English translation consistently gives wickedness or wicked in these witnesses. It keeps the severe claim of “infallible” aversion as Joubert’s judgment and does not authenticate the dramatic anecdote beyond the notebook’s report.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 233; II, pp. 889, 924.
From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Malice
malice; malicious ill will
Malice is actively hostile feeling or ill will.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordMalice is actively hostile feeling or ill will.
- In TraherneIn I.33 malice belongs to the social consequences of choosing the wrong riches.
- In this editionMalice here means ill will, without requiring the narrower modern legal sense of a formally established malicious intention.
- A place to beginMalice arises within a pattern of competitive and mistaken valuation.
Meaning
Malice is actively hostile feeling or ill will. It deforms relations to persons and, through them, the enjoyment of the world.
Use in the book
In I.33 malice belongs to the social consequences of choosing the wrong riches. Artificial scarcity and competitive acquisition transform other people from fellow enjoyers into rivals. The vice is therefore connected to a distorted account of value rather than treated only as an inexplicable private passion.
IV.17 makes its destructive disproportion memorable: a tiny obstruction can prevent the eye from seeing the heavens, and a small amount of malice can abolish a world of joys. What is damaged is the receiving power and its relation to the whole. The remedy involves principles of common enjoyment, under which a benefit is more valuable because it serves other people too.
Places to read
In this edition
Malice here means ill will, without requiring the narrower modern legal sense of a formally established malicious intention.