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 wordNotion can be a first or comparatively undeveloped intellectual apprehension.
- In JoubertIn the question about innate ideas, first notions serve, according to the reported account, as origins and materials; “we are told” keeps that explanation at a distance.
- In this editionThe English translation uses notions in the origin and glowworm passages, conception for notion in the physical-truth fragment.
- A place to beginFirst common notions appear in a qualified account of the origin of ideas.
- English renderings
- notion; conception
Meaning
Notion can be a first or comparatively undeveloped intellectual apprehension. It is not uniformly a disparaging name for a vague idea.
Use in the book
In the question about innate ideas, first notions serve, according to the reported account, as origins and materials; “we are told” keeps that explanation at a distance. The late glowworm image gives notions a different force: they are wrapped-up gleams that can be unwrapped, and they illuminate surroundings without necessarily becoming visible themselves. A note on physical truths says their discovery has practical uses while their conception brings the soul no happiness. Taken together, these passages ask what an apprehension contains, enables or nourishes rather than merely whether it is accurate.
Places to read
- I, p. 305, entry 2, ¶1First common notions appear in a qualified account of the origin of ideas.
- II, p. 543, entry 11, ¶1The conception of physical truths is distinguished from their practical uses.
- II, p. 905, entry 4, ¶1Wrapped gleams and a glowworm model illumination not fully seen by its possessor.
Translation in this edition
The English translation uses notions in the origin and glowworm passages, conception for notion in the physical-truth fragment. “Wrapped-up” and “unwrap” preserve the enveloppées/développer relation, which an ordinary developed/undeveloped paraphrase would flatten.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 305; II, pp. 543, 905.