ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to consider whether plants act, voluntarily. It explains that the best case against plant minds—which has accumulated—depends on the claim that minds require representations. To perceive, feel, remember, and act requires the capacity to form representations. In Dov Keller's phrase, plants certainly are restless. But they do not just bend in the breeze, or passively undergo changes in size, location, and orientation. Rather, they make things happen, on their own. In response, the plant releases various compounds, including methyl salicylate, which attracts a second type of mite, Phytoseiulus persimilis, which attacks the first type of mite, effectively defending the bean plants. In addition, neighboring bean plants that have not been attacked also begin to produce methyl salicylate, seemingly in anticipation of an attack by mites. If the Computational Theory of Mind is correct, then plants act voluntarily or 'on purpose' only if they act in ways that involve representations.
