Background
He was born in Geneva of a French family, Mar. 13, 1720.
He was born in Geneva of a French family, Mar. 13, 1720.
He studied law, obtaining his doctorate in 1743, but later found the study of natural history more to his liking.
He was a member of the Grand Conseil in Geneva from 1752 to 1768, and the greater part of his life was spent in and around Geneva. Bonnet was the discoverer of parthenogenesis in insects, as set forth in his TraitéTraite d'insectologie (1745), and also of the stigmata, or pores through which certain species of larvae and insects breathe. Failing eyesight caused him to abandon the study of natural history, and he turned to philosophy, publishing several works which leaned heavily on a combination of Leibnizian and Christian metaphysics. In his Essai de psychologie (1754) and Essai analytique sur les facultésfacultes de l'âmel'ame (1760) he maintained that all mental activity is governed by physiological factors, thus causing him to be accused of fatalism and materialism. He also published ConsidérationsConsiderations sur les corps organisésorganises (1762), containing a theory of epigenesis and the preexistence of germs, or "souls"; Contemplation de la nature (1764-1765), a defense of the principle of continuity in nature, as embodied in the 18th-century theory known as the great chain of being; and PalingénésiePalingenesie philosophique (1769-1770), an extension of this theory, supported by the principle of the indestructibility of all organisms. Bonnet had considerable influence on the philosophical thought of his day, and he was, in a sense, the precursor of physiological psychology. He died in Genthod, near Geneva, on May 20, 1793.
