1st Edition

Plant Ethics Concepts and Applications

    252 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    250 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    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.

    Introduction (Angela Kallhoff, Marcello Di Paola, Maria Schörgenhumer) PART I: Concepts and Approaches – Setting the Stage for Plant Ethics  1. The Value of Plants: On the Axiologies of Plants (Gianfranco Pellegrino)  2. Utilitarian Plant Ethics (Tatjana Višak)  3. Is Considering the Interests of Plants Absurd? (Ronald Sandler)  4. The Flourishing of Plants: A Neo-Aristotelian Approach to Plant Ethics (Angela Kallhoff)  5. The Dignity of Plants. An Overview of the Discussion in German-speaking Countries (Sabine Odparlik)  6. Facing Only Outwards? Plant Bodily Morphogenesis and Ethical Conceptual Genesis (Karen Houle)  7. Plants as Open Beings: From Aesthetics to Plant–Human Ethics (Sylvie Pouteau)  8. What Do We Mean by a Relational Ethics? Growing a Relational Approach to the Moral Standing of Plants, Robots, and Other Non-Humans (Mark Coeckelbergh)  9. Caring for Plants: Cultivating Relational Virtues (Maria Schörgenhumer)  PART II: Appreciations and Applications  10. Forest Ethics (Robin Attfield)  11. On the Relationships between Agriculture and Landscape (Paolo D’Angelo)  12. Resonance with Nature and Its Loss (Angelika Krebs)  13. Plant Risks: Can Risk Assessment Accommodate "Cultural Services"? (Paul B. Thompson)  14. Utopia in the Garden: New Utopian and Dystopian Thinking in Current Debates on Nature, Agriculture and Food (Christian Dürnberger)  15. "Growing Your Own" – Gardens, Plants and the Good Life (David E. Cooper)  16. "Hey Plants, Take a Walk on the Wild Side!" The Ethics of Seeds and Seed Banks (Nicole Karafyllis)  17. CRISPR/Cas in Crop Breeding: Why Ethics Still Matter (Frauke Pirscher)  18. ‘Digital’ Plants and the Rise of Responsible Precision Agriculture (Vincent Blok & Bart Gremmen)  19. On Robots and Plants: The Case of the Plantoid, a Robotic Artifact Inspired by Plants (Barbara Mazzolai & Pericle Salvini)

    Biography

    Angela Kallhoff is a Professor of Ethics with special emphasis on Applied Ethics at the University of Vienna, Austria.

    Marcello Di Paola is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Vienna, Austria, and Research and Teaching Fellow, Department of Political Science, LUISS University, Rome, Italy.

    Maria Schörgenhumer is a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna, Austria.