Biljke i filozofije
Plants and Philosophies

Summary/Abstract: The first part of this paper presents the status of plants in the philosophical tradition of the West. From Socrates, through Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Descartes, d'Alembert, alltheway to Hegel, it illustrates the animosity philosophers held towards "mere vegetation"—while simultaneously using it as a model or visual reinforcement for their arguments. The second part of the paper is dedicated to a certain correction of the intellectual neglect towards plants, undertaken by Rousseau, Jacques Derrida, communitarianism theorists, and environmental theorists. In the third part of the paper, through the works of Luce Irigaray, it is shown how the life of plants can be fully rehabilitated and even proclaimed as a model for human conduct. The final part of the paper signals that the understanding of plants, perhaps more than in some other issues, allows for judgment on the status of the reason and the reach of philosophical rationality.

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