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 wordVapor is a subtle, spreading material image; clouds can carry color or obstruct illumination.
- In JoubertMoist vapors are necessary to revive exposed plants.
- In this editionThe English translation keeps the partial and elliptical color argument.
- A place to beginVapors sustain exposed plants.
- English renderings
- vapor; cloud; clouds
Meaning
Vapor is a subtle, spreading material image; clouds can carry color or obstruct illumination. Neither is uniformly a name for confusion.
Use in the book
Moist vapors are necessary to revive exposed plants. Sunset color on clouds prompts a reflection upon color not reducible to earthy dust on surfaces, though that reflection remains unfinished. Plato’s writing can also release an intellectual vapor in which mind swims. Elsewhere intelligence lets its clouds disperse to see light. The images distinguish subtle diffusion from obstruction without making every vague apprehension a defect.
Places to read
- I, p. 38–39, entry 7, ¶1Vapors sustain exposed plants.
- I, p. 183, entry 3, ¶1Cloud color prompts an unfinished inquiry into material appearance.
- II, p. 721, entry 4, ¶1Intellectual vapor rises from Plato’s writings.
- II, p. 483, entry 4, ¶1Dispersing clouds permits intellectual light.
Translation in this edition
The English translation keeps the partial and elliptical color argument. “Intellectual” is bracketed in the Plato fragment because of source damage; its incompleteness is not silently repaired into a full critical verdict.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 38, 39, 183; II, pp. 483, 721.