Challenges readers to reconsider the moral standing of plants. Plants
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.
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A Philosophical Botany
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781438434308
Publisert
2021
Utgiver
State University of New York Press (SUNY Press)
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter