Here is a quick introduction to two famous figures who were also botanists. They both also published botanical works
Jean-Jacques Rousseau is one of the great philosophers of Europe`s Enlightenment period. Here is what I understand about his philosophy. He believed that the problems of man have been caused by our social and historical influences. Rousseau believed that all of mankind are really good by nature. I like to believe that it was his love and praise of nature that is seen throughout his works that brought him to study botany. Two of the work on botany that written by Rousseau are La Botnaque and Elements of Botany: addressed to a lady.
Dominique Chabrey was a Swiss physician and therefore also botanists, as the two disciplines were closely linked. His best known work was Historia plantarum universalis . The three volumes contain some 3000 pages of text and 3577 woodcut illustrations.
Here we have two botanists that came to study plants for two different reasons. One of them philosophical and one of them scientific.
