The Psychic Plant. For a Biosemiotics of Expressive Psychicity From the Perspective of Max Scheler

Abstract

The aim of this article is to propose a new perspective on plants based on the concept of expression. Research in recent decades has profoundly changed the way we view plants, revealing how they are able to position themselves in the environment and communicate with other living beings. However, two key aspects have been overlooked in research: 1) the ability to position themselves implies some elementary form of adopting a “yes” or “no” position with respect to environmental stimuli; and 2) the language that regulates the communication of plants with other living beings presupposes a grammar of expression that has remained largely unexplored. In order to deal with two questions, I develop from a biosemiotic perspective the theories of the philosopher Max Scheler (1874-1928) on primordial feeling (Gefühlsdrang), value perception (Wertnehmung) and the universal grammar of expressivity (universelle Grammatik des Ausdrucks). I then analyze the logic of expressive processes of plants. Finally, I argue that plants are an “expressive psychicity” that is actively and directly constituted through the expressive movement of its own body through a constant interaction with the expressive level of life.