BONNET, CHARLES. - Psychologist and naturalist, b. in Geneva on 13 March 1720, d. there on 20 June 1793. A complex figure whose works reflect the influence of his scientific training and of the divergent philosophical tendencies then dominant. B. in fact pushed both Hartley's associationism and Condillac's sensualism to very extreme conclusions. No less undeniable, however, is his doctrinal kinship with Leibniz in the theory of metamorphosis, which B. calls palingenesis. As a naturalist, B. discovered the parthenogenesis of aphids.

Principal works: Essai de psychologie (London 1754); Considerations sur les corps organisés (2 vols., Amsterdam 1762); Contemplations de la nature (ibid. 1764-65); Palingenésie philosophique (Geneva 1769); Recherches philosophiques sur les preuves du christianisme (ibid. 1669-1770). All are collected in the Œuvres complètes (10 vols., Neuchâtel 1779-83).

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: A. Lemoine, C. B. de Genève, philosophe et naturaliste, Paris 1850; Duc de Caramon, C. B. philosophe et naturaliste, sa vie et ses œuvres, ibid. 1859; E. Claparède, La psychologie animale de C. B., Geneva 1909.

Felicissimo Tinivella

@incollection{ec2_bonnet_charles, author = {Tinivella, Felicissimo}, title = {Bonnet, charles}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {1886}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/bonnet-charles} }

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Bonnet, Charles

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