From the book
The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II
Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Superstition
superstition
Superstition is a religious danger that Joubert sometimes proposes to manage through religion itself.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSuperstition is a religious danger that Joubert sometimes proposes to manage through religion itself.
- In JoubertThe analogy with fable and poetry gives superstition a relation to religion without declaring the two identical.
- In this editionThe English translation preserves “inoculate it,” with superstition as the antecedent, and the final passage’s risk rather than certainty of making matters worse.
- A place to beginSuperstition/religion is compared with fable/poetry.
- English renderings
- superstition; superstitions
Meaning
Superstition is a religious danger that Joubert sometimes proposes to manage through religion itself. The distinction is not a simple opposition between believing and ceasing to believe.
Use in the book
The analogy with fable and poetry gives superstition a relation to religion without declaring the two identical. The inoculation passage deliberately says to inoculate superstition by giving children religion. The image introduces a controlled form rather than erasing the object. A later note argues that physics is the wrong terrain for correcting superstition: drawing it away from every idea of heaven may make it worse. These are arguments about correction within a field, not a blanket endorsement of every superstition.
Places to read
- I, p. 114, entry 14, ¶1Superstition/religion is compared with fable/poetry.
- II, p. 565, entry 2, ¶1Religion is figured as an inoculation.
- II, p. 897, entry 8, ¶1Correction should not remove every idea of heaven.
Translation in this edition
The English translation preserves “inoculate it,” with superstition as the antecedent, and the final passage’s risk rather than certainty of making matters worse. Physics retains the historical breadth of inquiry into nature. The unfinished criticism of Cicero remains unfinished.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 114; II, pp. 565, 897.
From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Superstition
superstition — fearful misapprehension of divine power without delight in goodness
Superstition is religious apprehension distorted by ignorance or misplaced fear.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSuperstition is religious apprehension distorted by ignorance or misplaced fear.
- In TraherneKnowledge of God must disclose goodness and the beauty of generous love.
- In this editionThe definition is explicitly attributed by Traherne to Plutarch.
- A place to beginKnowledge of goodness is contrasted with an ignorant dread of divine power.
Meaning
Superstition is religious apprehension distorted by ignorance or misplaced fear. Traherne gives it an unusually pointed definition through a saying he attributes to Plutarch.
Use in the book
Knowledge of God must disclose goodness and the beauty of generous love. A consciousness of divine power that produces only dread misses the character of the being apprehended. Traherne calls that deficient knowledge superstition: power has been detached from the goodness governing its exercise.
The argument does not deny judgment elsewhere in the Centuries. It establishes what must animate a true apprehension of God and why bare terror cannot fulfill the purpose of religious knowledge. The reader is invited to see a giver delighting in the beloved’s happiness, so that knowledge becomes love and enjoyment rather than anxious awareness of superior force.
Places to read
- I.17Knowledge of goodness is contrasted with an ignorant dread of divine power.
In this edition
The definition is explicitly attributed by Traherne to Plutarch. This entry reports that attribution without supplying an unverified ancient passage or treating his English as a checked literal translation.
Source note
Primary text: I.17. No 2026 editorial notes used.