Charles Bonnet’s La Palingénésie Philosophique : the Heuristic Power of the Materialist Imagery of the Enlightenment
Year: 2017
Type: article
Abstract: The works of Charles Bonnet illustrate the contribution of imagination to research in natural history in the second half of the 18th century. In his Palingénésie philosophique (1769), Bonnet uses images and metaphors rooted in the philosophical and literary imagery of the Enlightenment to describe the evolution of life. This juxtaposition of scientific and literary discourses did not prevent Bonnet from being regarded as a forefather of modern biology by historians of science.
Source: Studia Romanica Posnaniensia
Author: Marta Sukiennicka
Institution: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Language: French
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2804295501