us. A
nerve once set in motion by a particular object tends to reproduce that
motion; so that when it a second time receives an impression from the
same object it vibrates with less resistance. The sensation accompanying
this increased flexibility in the nerve is, according to Bonnet, the
condition of memory. When reflection--that is, the active element in
mind--is applied to the acquisition and combination of sensations, those
abstract ideas are formed which, though generally distinguished from,
are thus merely sensations in combination only. That which puts the mind
into activity is pleasure or pain; happiness is the end of human
existence. Bonnet's metaphysical theory is based on two principles
borrowed from Leibnitz--first, that there are not successive acts of
creation, but that the universe is completed by the single original act
of the divine will, and thereafter moves on by its own inherent force;
and secondly, that there is no break in the continuity of existence. The
divine Being originally created a multitude of germs in a graduated
scale, each with an inherent power of self-development. At every
successive step in the progress of the universe, these germs, as
progressively modified, advance nearer to perfection; if some advanced
and others did not there would be a gap in the continuity of the chain.
Thus not man only but all other forms of existence are immortal. Nor is
man's mind alone immortal; his body also will pass into the higher
stage, not, indeed, the body he now possesses, but a finer one of which
the germ at present exists within him. It is impossible, however, to
reach absolute perfection, because the distance is infinite. In this
final proposition Bonnet violates his own principle of continuity, by
postulating an interval between the highest created being and the
Divine. It is also difficult to understand whether the constant advance
to perfection is performed by each individual, or only by each race of
beings as a whole. There seems, in fact, to be an oscillation between
two distinct but analogous doctrines--that of the constantly increasing
advancement of the individual in future stages of existence, and that of
the constantly increasing advancement of the race as a whole according
to the successive evolutions of the globe.

Bonnet's complete works appeared at Neuchatel in 1779-1783, partly
revised by himself. An English translation of certain portions of the
_Palingenesie philosophique_