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 wordPoids and pesanteur concern weight; gravitation names a physical process or force.
- In JoubertA mathematical body is explicitly imagined without weight or impenetrability.
- In this editionThe English translation retains “gravitations” in the unusual plural list and “weight” in the literary judgments.
- A place to beginWeight is excluded from the mathematical body.
- English renderings
- weight; gravitation
Meaning
Poids and pesanteur concern weight; gravitation names a physical process or force. Poids also gives words and judgments seriousness or authority.
Use in the book
A mathematical body is explicitly imagined without weight or impenetrability. This separates a conceptual figure from the properties used to characterize earthly bodies. In the late skeptical image of matter, gravitations and other forces belong to an enormous appearance that can nevertheless be pictured as a hollow grain or bubble. The literary uses pull in another direction: Spartan style derives its weight from the way of life behind it, and Tacitus’s words have weight and measure alongside exact number.
Places to read
- I, p. 446, entry 1, ¶2Weight is excluded from the mathematical body.
- II, p. 906, entry 4, ¶1Gravitations enter the highly figurative interrogation of matter.
- II, p. 921, entry 4, ¶2A way of life lends weight to style.
- II, p. 898, entry 2, ¶1Words possess weight, measure, and exact number; exact modifies number alone.
Translation in this edition
The English translation retains “gravitations” in the unusual plural list and “weight” in the literary judgments. The metaphor should not be converted into heaviness of style: here weight can praise concentrated authority.
Source note
Beaunier 1938, I, pp. 446; II, pp. 898, 906, 921.