Plants as Persons: A Philosophical BotanyPlants are people too? No, but in this work of philosophical botany Matthew Hall challenges readers to reconsider the moral standing of plants, arguing that they are other-than-human persons. Plants constitute the bulk of our visible biomass, underpin all natural ecosystems, and make life on Earth possible. Yet plants are considered passive and insensitive beings rightly placed outside moral consideration. As the human assault on nature continues, more ethical behavior toward plants is needed. Hall surveys Western, Eastern, Pagan, and Indigenous thought as well as modern science for attitudes toward plants, noting the particular resources for plant personhood and those modes of thought which most exclude plants. The most hierarchical systems typically put plants at the bottom, but Hall finds much to support a more positive view of plants. Indeed, some indigenous animisms actually recognize plants as relational, intelligent beings who are the appropriate recipeints of care and respect. New scientific findings encourage this perspective, revealing that plants possess many of the capacities of sentience and mentality traditionally denied them. |
Contents
| 1 | |
1 THE ROOTS OF DISREGARD | 17 |
2 DOGMA AND DOMINATION | 37 |
3 PASSIVE PLANTS IN CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS | 55 |
4 DEALING WITH SENTIENCE AND VIOLENCE IN HINDU JAINAND BUDDHIST TEXTS | 73 |
5 INDIGENOUS ANIMISMSPLANT PERSONS AND RESPECTFUL ACTION | 99 |
6 PAGANS PLANTSAND PERSONHOOD | 119 |
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Acaranga Sutra active ahimsa animist Aristotelian Aristotle Aristotle’s Augustine Australia autonomy auxin awareness Bacon Bais et Baluška behavior biblical botanical Buddhist Callicott 1997 Chapter Christian clear communication connection contemporary cultures Darwin demonstrate Descartes describes dialogue domination Earth ecological edited Empedocles environment environmental ethical exclusion existence faculties flourishing Genesis Greek growth harm Harvey heterarchical hierarchy Hindu humans and plants Ibid idea Indigenous Indigenous ecologies interactions Jain Jainism jiva Kalevala kinship Kohák London Mahabharata Mahavira Moltmann moral consideration movement natural world Neidjie Nine Herbs Charm nonviolence notion ontological other-than-human pagan passage personhood philosophy plant habitats plant kingdom plant persons plant species Plantarum plants and animals plants and human plants as passive Plato Pliny Plumwood Ram-Prasad recognition of plants recognized regarded relationships with plants response restoration roots sacred sensation sentient shared soul texts Theophrastus Timaeus tion tradition trees Trewavas understanding University Press Western worldview Yanyuwa zoocentric