Bonnet, Charles (1720–93)

In his youth, Bonnet made a meticulous and creative study of insects, which won him international fame for his discoveries, as well as his methods. He turned to psychology and offered a detailed, but speculative, account of the physiology of mental states. His empirical work was overtaken by speculative ambition. In later life, he developed (from elements already present in his early studies) a comprehensive view of the universe, of its history and its natural history, of theology and of moral philosophy. Christianity was proved, the great chain of being was mapped over time towards an ultimate perfection, and human morality, based on self-love, formed part of the Creator’s scheme. The Creator, at the moment of creation, brought into being all the elements from which this vast unfolding would occur, without further intervention.