The Language of Plants: Science, Philosophy, Literature

by Monica Gagliano (Editor), John C. Ryan (Editor), Patrícia Vieira (Editor)

The eighteenth-century naturalist Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles) argued that plants are animate, living beings and attributed them sensation, movement, and a certain degree of mental activity, emphasizing the continuity between humankind and plant existence. Two centuries later, the understanding of plants as active and communicative organisms has reemerged in such diverse fields as plant neurobiology, philosophical posthumanism, and ecocriticism. The Language of Plants brings together groundbreaking essays from across the disciplines to foster a dialogue between the biological sciences and the humanities and to reconsider our relation to the vegetal world in new ethical and political terms.

Viewing plants as sophisticated information-processing organisms with complex communication strategies (they can sense and respond to environmental cues and play an active role in their own survival and reproduction through chemical languages) radically transforms our notion of plants as unresponsive beings, ready to be instrumentally appropriated. By providing multifaceted understandings of plants, informed by the latest developments in evolutionary ecology, the philosophy of biology, and ecocritical theory, The Language of Plants promotes the freedom of imagination necessary for a new ecological awareness and more sustainable interactions with diverse life forms.

Contributors: Joni Adamson, Arizona State U; Nancy E. Baker, Sarah Lawrence College; Karen L. F. Houle, U of Guelph; Luce Irigaray, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris; Erin James, U of Idaho; Richard Karban, U of California at Davis; André Kessler, Cornell U; Isabel Kranz, U of Vienna; Michael Marder, U of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU); Timothy Morton, Rice U; Christian Nansen, U of California at Davis; Robert A. Raguso, Cornell U; Catriona Sandilands, York U.

Genres: Nature, Plants, Science, Nonfiction, Ecology, Philosophy

352 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2017

About the author

MONICA GAGLIANO is Research Associate Professor of Evolutionary Ecology. She is currently based at Southern Cross University where she leads the BI Lab – Biological Intelligence Lab. She is the author of numerous scientific articles in the fields of animal and plant behavioural and evolutionary ecology, and is the co-editor of The Green Thread: Dialogues with the Vegetal World (Lexington Books, 2015), The Language of Plants: Science, Philosophy and Literature (Minnesota University Press, 2017), Memory and Learning in Plants (Springer, 2018) and The Mind of Plants (2021). Her work has extended the concept of cognition (including perception, learning processes, memory and consciousness) in plants. Gagliano has pioneered the brand-new research field of plant bioacoustics, for the first time experimentally demonstrating that plants emit their own 'voices' and, moreover, detect and respond to the sounds of their environments.

Reviews

[Mason Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really fun and challenging read for me. I did not understand a lot of it, but finished it with a different conception of and feeling towards plants. I read it expecting the literature section to take most of my interest, but I ultimately found the philosophy and science sections to be the most beneficial and engaging. If you have any interest in dismantling your anthropocentric view of things, I'd highly suggest.

[Cana McGhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bit of a hit or miss edited volume for me. parts 1 and 3 were the most compelling for me in terms of the evidence used. main aim of the book is to explore an expansive definition of language that includes the way humans talk about or use plants to communicate, in addition to asking questions about plant communication mechanisms and the pros+cons of considering it as language. my main issue comes down to feeling that the chapters were as well connected as they could have been, and some of the same anecdotes were used across chapters w/o any apparent cross-checking across those chapters. but there are some gems here that will get you thinking differently.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting book on the topic of plant language, communication, and how they speak through three different lenses. I enjoyed the Philosophy section the most, but all three sections held interest. Some of the essays I found most compelling include Michael Marder's "To Hear Plants Speak," Luce Irigaray's "What the Vegetal World Says to Us," and Monica Gagliano's "Breaking the Silence."

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read.

[Charissa Shepard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the structure of the book overall. The background of science & the context of philosophy are both helpful but not as enjoyable to read as the literature section.

[m · Rating 3 out of 5]

for class