Rousseau, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre et l'histoire naturelle

Rousseau and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre were both interested in botany, but it had a different meaning for each of them. They both believed that we learn from Nature itself and not from collections, but Rousseau gave advice on how to make a plant collection, while refusing to allow the introduction of exotic plants into gardens ; Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, however, wanted to introduce foreign plants but disparaged collections which ignored the plant's environment. When he was the head of the Botanical Garden he wanted to set up a zoo which would re-establish the old link between animals and man that had been destroyed by naturalists who were merely hunters. They also disagreed on classification ; Rousseau saw Linnaeus' s methodological rules as a means to allow each botanist to take advantage of the work of others and refused any utilitarian interest, while Bernardin de Saint-Pierre rejected learned classification and gave a different meaning to the study of the plant world.Drouin Jean-Marc. Rousseau, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre et l'histoire naturelle. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°33, 2001. L'Atlantique, sous la direction de Marcel Dorigny . pp. 507-516