The "Caractères de Botanique" of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Abstract

The 18th century was fertile ground for the elaboration of theories of the origin of language, also for the elaboration of scientific nomenclatures. Our proposal tries to point out the value of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's contribution to it in the field of botanical language. Geneva philosopher created a universal transcription system based on the manufacture of free ideation ideographs, up to an approximate total of 1,000 characters. Arranged in several lists preserved in the Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire de Neuchâtel, these characters have barely deserved the attention of scholars.