Arboreality and the Ethics of Standing in Place in The Vegetal Turn
My chapter, “Arboreality and the Ethics of Standing in Place” has been published in the volume The Vegetal Turn: History, Concepts, Applications edited by Marcello Di Paola, Springer, 2024. I am honored and excited to be included in such an essential volume for the field.
Abstract for my chapter:
“Arboreality and the Ethics of Standing in Place”
Trees and plants are receiving renewed attention as work in both the sciences and humanities is affirming their intelligence, agency, and relationality. If trees are more than merely instrumental beings, what is our ethical responsibility toward them? Taking a phenomenological approach, trees themselves are grounded in a particular place. Edward S. Casey’s phenomenological work on place gives insight into one approach to arboreal ethics by considering how trees create place both within and outside of the forest. While trees may not have a right to life, they may have a right to place, and an ethic of standing in place considers both individual and surrounding, acknowledging ecological interrelationships. In this chapter, I take Casey’s phenomenology of place as a starting point for an arboreal ethic which recognizes trees as non-human others that can be considered for some rights and also acknowledges that our lives depend on taking theirs. I will also consider vegetal ethics, particularly in Michael Marder’s philosophy, and other place-based approaches to environmental ethics. Rather than propose a fully developed ethic, I uncover some of the unique issues trees pose to Western ethics and point towards potential respectful relationships with trees and plants.
Abstract for the volume:
The Vegetal Turn: History, Concepts, Applications
This book charts the multidimensional course of what has come to be known as the “Vegetal Turn” in environmental humanities - a wave of theoretical and practical interest in the complexities and peculiarities of plant life and plant-human relations.
The Vegetal turn consists of increasingly sophisticated, inter- and trans-disciplinary, inter- and trans-cultural explorations of the multiple systems and networks of communication, intelligence, technical-operational capabilities, and relations articulated by and via plants - as well as the ethical, economic, cultural, and political dimensions of plant-human interactions and practices. The volume includes contributions from philosophy and the humanities more generally that explore and reflect on the history, prospects, and applications of four main themes that the Vegetal Turn has brought to general attention: the mind of plants, and what their peculiar mentality can tell us about mind more generally; plant personhood and/or moral standing, and the justifications and implications of attributions thereof; plant relationships with humans, plant-based human relationships, and the ethics of human practices with or regarding plants - from agriculture to the arts, from forest management to urban design ; as well as the rights and/or political representation of plant life and the other life-forms that depend on it, human as well as non-human, present and future.
Table of contents (22 chapters)
Front Matter Pages i-vii
The Vegetal Turn Marcello Di Paola Pages 1-19
On the Geology of Plants Thomas Nail Pages 21-34
PRIMARY MATTER: The Technical Nature of Wood in Ancient Thought Andrea Le Moli Pages 35-45
Heroes of Botany: Voices of Dissent from the Western Tradition’s Devaluation of Plants Isis Brook Pages 47-62
The Vegetal Return: Plant Time and the Curious Engines of Enlightened Knowledge Adriana Craciun Pages 63-79
The Power of Movement in Plants: Vegetal Dimensions in Darwin's Theory of Evolution Claudia Rosciglione Pages 81-91
Plant Mind and the Emergence of Plant Physiology: Dutrochet on Plant Sensitivity and Motility Quentin Hiernaux Pages 93-106
Different Kinds of Minds: From Bacteria to Plants and Animals Andrea Nani, Gabriele Volpara Pages 107-122
Seeing Through the Eyes of Plants Aaron M. Ellison, Eric Zeigler Pages 123-138
Methods for Plant Ethics Jenna Aarnio, Mireille Farzan, Laura Puumala, Mikko M. Puumala, Oskari Sivula, Tiia Topinoja et al. Pages 139-151
Are Plants Like Patients in Persistent Vegetative States? Ethan C. Terrill Pages 153-169
In Defense of (Some) Plant Rights Amber Polk Pages 171-184
Plants as Subjects in Botanic Gardens: Toward Environmental Engagement Thomas Heyd Pages 185-198
The Land Ethic: The “Key-Log” for the Vegetal Turn? Casey Rentmeester Pages 199-211
Arboreality and the Ethics of Standing in Place Laura Pustarfi Pages 213-223
On the Efficacy of Cultivating Environmental Reverence for Forests Kimberly M. Dill Pages 225-240
Is Soil Merely a Means? Reconsidering the Nexus Among Humans, Plants, and Soil Tsuyoshi Teramoto Pages 241-252
Plants and Global Health Ethics Daniel Elliot Weissglass Pages 253-266
Ethical Issues in Novel Plant Technologies Lotte Asveld Pages 267-277