ABSTRACT

Large parts of our world are filled with plants, and human life depends on, interacts with, affects and is affected by plant life in various ways. Yet plants have not received nearly as much attention from philosophers and ethicists as they deserve. In environmental philosophy, plants are often swiftly subsumed under the categories of "all living things" and rarely considered thematically. There is a need for developing a more sophisticated theoretical understanding of plants and their practical role in human experience.

Plant Ethics: Concepts and Applications aims at opening a philosophical discussion that may begin to fill that gap. The book investigates issues in plants ontology, ethics and the role of plants and their cultivation in various fields of application. It explores and develops important concepts to shape and frame plants-related philosophical questions accurately, including new ideas of how to address moral questions when confronted with plants in concrete scenarios.

This edited volume brings together for the first time, and in an interdisciplinary spirit, contemporary approaches to plant ethics by international scholars of established reputation. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of Philosophy and Ethics.

part I|108 pages

Concepts and approaches

chapter 1|18 pages

The value of plants

13On the axiologies of plants

chapter 2|10 pages

Utilitarian plant ethics

chapter 4|8 pages

The flourishing of plants

A neo-Aristotelian approach to plant ethics

chapter 5|11 pages

The dignity of plants

An overview of the discussion in German-speaking countries

chapter 6|12 pages

Facing only outwards?

Plant bodily morphogenesis and ethical conceptual genesis

chapter 7|16 pages

Plants as open beings

From aesthetics to plant–human ethics

chapter 8|12 pages

What do we mean by a relational ethics?

Growing a relational approach to the moral standing of plants, robots, and other non-humans

chapter 9|9 pages

Caring for plants

Cultivating relational virtues

part II|112 pages

Appreciations and applications

chapter 10|11 pages

Forest ethics

chapter 13|12 pages

Plant risks

Can risk assessment accommodate “cultural services”?

chapter 14|13 pages

Utopia in the garden

New utopian and dystopian thinking in current debates on nature, agriculture, and food

chapter 15|11 pages

‘Growing your own’

Gardens, plants, and the Good Life

chapter 16|16 pages

“Hey Plants, Take a Walk on the Wild Side!”

The ethics of seeds and seed banks

chapter 17|9 pages

CRISPR/Cas in crop breeding

Why ethics still matter

chapter 19|10 pages

On robots and plants

The case of the plantoid, a robotic artifact inspired by plants