I am drawn to panpsychism, the idea that some form of mind pervades everything in the universe. Inanimate matter as well as everything we consider living. (There is the related idea from Whitehead: panexperientialism.) Drawn to it, though not convinced by it.
Staying focused on the living: if plants are considered to have minds or experience, this complicates the already complicated conversation around the ethical status of the non-human. Folks like Tom Regan have done as good a job as can be done extending Kantian deontology to animals. Pushed further, it breaks down. Infinite, absolute individual rights get us nowhere in a world where life has to consume life, and compete with life, in order to survive and propagate.
I've always felt there is a wisdom in trees. But I've been willing to consider that a mystical, imaginative fancy. Maybe there's more to it?
No comments:
Post a Comment