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E-book From Plant Behavior to Plant Intelligence?

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Penilaian

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Behavior is a key concept in numerous fields of study: psychology, ethology, but also in the biology of organisms. It does not cause much surprise that dolphins, chimpanzees or rats display rational behavior – after all, they are not so different from us. But what about the organisms we deem “simpler”? Or even brainless organisms like plants? Do they display behavior at all? Is their behavior comparable to the behavior of animal species, or even to human behavior? Do plants give meaning to their environment? Do their activi-ties result from a cognitive process? These questions are the starting point of recent controversies – of which the “plant intelligence” debate has received the widest coverage in main-stream media. But looking beyond controversies, we will see that it is essential to investigate plant behavior. According to the theory of evolution, life forms are continuous. Hence when we study behavior in biology, we cannot a priori, arbitrarily exclude some life forms from our investigation. We must bring forward and test justifications and arguments which will identify analogies in the behavior of distinct species, but which will also point to behavioral differences between them. Recent scientific experiments contribute to this inquiry. In philosophy, the study and interpretation of plant behavior will lead us to rethink concepts such as memory and conscious-ness, but also to reflect on the nature of the mind. Such a task will require subtle arbitration and a detailed examination of classical oppositions rather than catchphrases. Inquiring into how we use the notion of plant behavior will reveal a strained divide between reckless anthropomorphism and confirmed scientific reductionism – philosophy will allow us to examine it properly. Yet, to think beyond the anthropomorphism-re-ductionism divide turns out to be complex. This is why this work acknowledges that anthropomorphism can sometimes be of use to draw the attention to neglected topics – but that, doing so, it may cause distortions, for instance when it grants plants human emotions and attitudes. By contrast, reduc-tionism studies phenomena solely through its observable causes, thus minimizing the risk of anthropomorphism – but, doing so, it often avoids the epistemological, ethical and metaphysical problems that lie at the foundation of biology (Canguilhem, 2008; Myers, 2015). Let us first investigate the nature of behavior. What do philosophers and biologists mean by that? And what are the specificities of plant behavior? How could we distinguish it from the activities of a stone or from those of an animal?These questions lead us to look deeper into problems where science and philosophy go hand in hand. They also require us to examine the often-hidden historical context in which these problems arose. Indeed, at least since the development of modern botany, philosophers and naturalists have been concerned with the nature of movements in plants and with the possibility of sensibility, and even soul, in plants.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

580 HIE f

Penerbit

France : éditions Quae., 2023

Deskripsi Fisik

107 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9782759237463

Klasifikasi

580

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

Plants, Botany

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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