Colaço, David (2022) Why studying plant cognition is valuable, even if plants aren’t cognitive. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Philosophers and scientists propose the idea that plants are cognitive, which has been met with criticisms. These criticisms focus on the fact that plants do not possess the properties traditionally associated with cognition. By contrast, several proponents introduce novel ways to conceptualize cognition. How should we make sense of this debate? In this paper, I argue that the plant cognition debate is not about whether plants meet a set of well-delineated and agreed-upon criteria according to which they count as cognitive. Rather, many proponents are hypothesizing about cognition. They construe COGNITION not as an expression of what cognition is, but rather as a conjecture about what cognition might be. These conjectures orient research that can uncover novel similarities amongst the phenomena to which these concepts extend. In defending this view, I argue that investigating plant cognition is valuable, even if the results of these investigations lead us to reject the claim that plants are cognitive.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Colaço, David
Keywords:	plant cognition; concepts; cognitive kinds; hypotheses
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Concepts and Representations General Issues > Natural Kinds
Depositing User:	Dr. David Colaço
Date Deposited:	22 Aug 2022 02:56
Last Modified:	22 Aug 2022 02:56
Item ID:	21080
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Concepts and Representations General Issues > Natural Kinds
Date:	2022
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/21080

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