From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordCroyance can name a shared belief or an article held true.
- In JoubertJoubert links differences of belief within a nation to pressures on the opinions of its less privileged groups.
- In this editionThe English translation distinguishes beliefs, opinions and faith rather than assigning one invariant English word to all three.
- A place to beginDifferences of belief are described through a social hierarchy.
- English renderings
- belief; religious belief
Meaning
Croyance can name a shared belief or an article held true. This entry concerns its religious and social uses; the noun does not itself guarantee that the object is religious.
Use in the book
Joubert links differences of belief within a nation to pressures on the opinions of its less privileged groups. His claim has a direction and a social hierarchy that should remain visible. In writing history, however, he permits a weakly proved circumstance into an account while refusing to make it an article of belief. Admission into a narrative is less than assent. The explicitly religious witness contrasts acquired unbelief with uninstructed irreligion and figures faith as bending and softening the mind for cultivation. This is Joubert’s polemical evaluation, not a neutral description of people without religion.
Places to read
- I, p. 99, entry 7, ¶1Differences of belief are described through a social hierarchy.
- I, p. 385, entry 2, ¶2Narrative admission is distinguished from an article of belief.
- II, p. 765, entry 4, ¶3Religious belief is figured as preparation for cultivation.
Translation in this edition
The English translation distinguishes beliefs, opinions and faith rather than assigning one invariant English word to all three. “Cultivation” and “sowing” preserve the agricultural image without naming an unstated seed.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 99, 385; II, pp. 765.