Rośliny w pędzie. Darwina myślenie o granicy roślina – zwierzę
Plants in a Rush: Darwin’s Understanding of the Border between Plants and Animals

Summary/Abstract: Schollenberger examines how the border between plants and animals is conceptualized in the botanical works of Charles Darwin. Two aspects emerge as particularly salient in the context of posthumanistic discourses as well as critical plant studies, namely Darwin’s stated intention to demonstrate animal behaviours in plants and the fact that he reveals complex networks between the worlds of plants and animals. At the same time, the Darwinian narrative indicates humankind’s status in the natural world and the limitations of an anthropocentric perspective. Ever since Aristoteles, plants have been perceived as the lowest possible life form, incapable of movement, simply ‘living on’. Darwin subverts this tradition by asking us to rethink the essence and criteria behind those divisions and the relationship between different forms of life. This allows us to read his works through a posthumanist perspective on different configurations of what is human and non-human.

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