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2 books

Surface and depth

Meanings and passages from 2 books in the library.

From the book

The Notebooks of Joseph Joubert, Volumes I–II

Joseph Joubert · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Surface and depth

surface; profondeur

Surface and depth give spatial form to questions about visibility, explanation, and genuine thought.

Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordSurface and depth give spatial form to questions about visibility, explanation, and genuine thought.
  • In JoubertA point and line can be defined through what a tip or thread places upon a surface.
  • In this editionThe translation preserves “depth” even in criticism and “surfaces” for superficies.
  • A place to beginSurface permits concrete definitions of point and line.
English renderings
surface; depth

Meaning

Surface and depth give spatial form to questions about visibility, explanation, and genuine thought. Depth is not a sufficient virtue if nothing can be seen there.

Use in the book

A point and line can be defined through what a tip or thread places upon a surface. Philosophical explanations, on the other hand, may resemble a depth where nothing is visible. The late complaint about artificial night makes writers darken their own surfaces to manufacture an appearance of depth and brighten their weak lights. The distinction is not simply between bad surfaces and good depths, but between intelligible articulation and an obscurity that simulates it.

Places to read

  1. I, p. 241, entry 6, ¶1Surface permits concrete definitions of point and line.
  2. I, p. 439, entry begun p. 437, no. 3, ¶21An unseen depth criticizes some modern explanations.
  3. II, p. 910, entry 12, ¶1Artificial darkness gives surfaces a deceptive depth.

Translation in this edition

The translation preserves “depth” even in criticism and “surfaces” for superficies. A lexicon should not rewrite the geometrical or optical metaphors into a generic accusation of pretentiousness.

Source note

Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 241, 439; II, pp. 910.

From the book

Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I

Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →

Surface and depth

superficiem, intrinsecus, extrinsecus, e fundo materiae, funditus, eruit, educit.

Surface and depth supply spatial language for different causal reach.

Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordSurface and depth supply spatial language for different causal reach.
  • In the Platonic TheologyThe contrast between human craft and nature turns upon access to matter.
  • In this editionThe facing English preserves both “generates or draws” at IV.1.13.
  • A place to readbodily nearness is contrasted with an inwardly present substantial agent

Meaning

Surface and depth supply spatial language for different causal reach. Intrinsecus and extrinsecus mean from or on the inside and outside; funditus means fundamentally or to the depths. Eruere and educere can mean bringing out or drawing forth, rather than simply creating from nothing.

Use in the book

The contrast between human craft and nature turns upon access to matter. Human craft touches its surface, while natural art operates inwardly and brings substantial forms from its depths. Ficino argues that bodily substances cannot penetrate to this formative level; accidental qualities alone would only heat, cool, and perform similarly restricted operations. Living nature makes those qualities serve the articulated colors, figures, and vigor of life. Depth thus distinguishes substantial generation from mere juxtaposition or superficial arrangement.

The spatial terms remain comparisons applied to a metaphysical distinction. An incorporeal cause is not a very small body lodged far below a material surface. Nor does the claim that forms are drawn from matter make matter the sufficient active producer: the sentence explicitly assigns the operation to living nature. “Inward” names both a mode of presence and a depth of efficacy.

Places to read

  1. IV.1.5bodily nearness is contrasted with an inwardly present substantial agent
  2. IV.1.11–1323surface work, inward formation, and essential principles are compared
  3. IV.1.18–192living nature draws out substantial forms and directs elemental qualities beyond their isolated effects

Translation in this edition

The facing English preserves both “generates or draws” at IV.1.13. That sive alternative should remain visible: the vocabulary is not a uniform assertion of creation from nothing.

eruere / educere

eruere / educere. Printed forms: educit; eruit.

To draw forth or bring out. Natural art generates or draws substantial forms from matter; the verbs do not by themselves assert creation from nothing. References: IV.1.13, IV.1.18. See Surface and depth.

penetrare

penetrare. Printed forms: penetrant; penetrante; penetrat.

To enter or reach within. Ficino contrasts penetrating accidental effects with a required inward substantial producer and the depths inaccessible to bodily substances. References: IV.1.5, IV.1.18. See Surface and depth.

superficies / fundus

superficies / fundus. Printed forms: funditus; fundo; superficiem.

Surface; depth; fundamentally or to the depths. Human surface work is contrasted with substantial formation from the depths of matter. References: IV.1.13. See Surface and depth.