From humans to plants and back again on the possible implicit philosophical anthropology in plant-thinking

Abstract

This paper proposes a critical, yet supportive reading of the Plant Turn from an anthropological-philosophical perspective. First, it discusses the pars destruens of plant-thinking, focusing on the challenge of overcoming any ‘x-centric’ bias against vegetal beings. Second, it outlines the pars construens of plant-thinking, emphasizing the view of plants as characterized by anti-essentialist, dividual traits. Third, it addresses how plant-thinking might turn anthropomorphic in both a projective and a retrojective sense by considering scientific, conceptual, and ethical arguments.