Citation

Author Website

Catia Correia-Caeiro: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Catia-Correia-Caeiro

Katja Liebal: https://www.uni-leipzig.de/personenprofil/mitarbeiter/prof-dr-katja-liebal

Thread

Miguel Segundo-Ortin and Paco Calvo, Plant sentience? Between romanticism and denial: Science

Abstract

Segundo-Ortin & Calvo (S&C) argue for sentience in plants on the basis of several studies of what they describe as "cognitive abilities" in plants. As other commentaries (e.g., Brooks Pribac, 2023; Damasio & Damasio, 2023; ten Cate, 2023) have pointed out, however, there is some misuse of several concepts, and a lack of evidence for sentience. We try to clarify three questions in S&C’s discussion: (1) How is communication defined and conceptualised in animal research? (2) Is plant communication comparable to animal communication? (3) Is communication (or the process we see in plants) a good basis for inferring sentience in plants?

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Catia Correia-Caeiro, Senior Researcher at the Human Biology & Primate Cognition Research Group, Leipzig University, investigates cognitive capacities in different species (e.g., primates and domestic animals) from comparative and evolutionary perspectives. Her research focuses on communication and emotional processes in nonhuman animals. Website

Katja Liebal, Professor and Head of the Human Biology & Primate Cognition Research Group and of the Children & Nature Group at the interdisciplinary LeipzigLab, Leipzig University, investigates the multimodal communication of primates and human children’s attitudes towards other animals. Website

DOI

10.51291/2377-7478.1819