Plants as persons : a philosophical botany / Matthew Hall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hall, Matthew, 1980-

Series:

SUNY series on religion and the environment.

SUNY series on religion and the environment

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Botany--Philosophy.

Botany.

Philosophy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (249 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, c2011.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

A philosophical botany

Roots of disregard

Exclusion and inclusion in classical Greek philosophy

Dogma and domination

Keeping plants at a distance

Passive plants in Christian traditions

Dealing with sentience and violence in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist texts

Indigenous animisms

Plant persons and respectful action

Pagans, plants and personhood

Bridging the gulf

Moving, sensing, intelligent plants

Re-creating a place for flourishing.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-227) and index.

ISBN:

9781438434308

1438434308

9781441696748

1441696741

OCLC:

733048133