“Plants are Sentient and Have Feelings Too.” Flashcards
About this Deck: “Plants are Sentient and Have Feelings Too.”
This deck parallels the briefing at vbriefings.org/plants, where full citations can be found.
What is the briefing titled “Plants Are Sentient and Have Feelings Too” about?
The briefing provides several reasons why objections to veganism based on plant sentience or plant pain are unfounded.
Provide a high-level summary of the briefing on plant sentience.
The plant-sentience objection to veganism is flawed because plants lack the capacity to suffer or feel emotions, unlike animals, and eating animals causes more plant deaths than directly consuming plants due to agricultural inefficiency. While plant sentience is often sensationalized, it does not compare ethically or scientifically to the well-established sentience of animals.
In context, what motivates the plant sentience-based objection to veganism?
This objection to animal rights and veganism is usually not from a concern for the well-being of plants but to illuminate a perceived inconsistency. If both plants and animals are sentient and have feelings, and if we abstain from eating animals for ethical reasons, then we must also abstain from eating plants.
What are the key points presented in the briefing on plant sentience?
- Eating animals kills more plants than eating plants.
- Plants differ from animals in ethically significant ways.
- There is no reason plants would experience pain.
- Some plants depend on being eaten for the survival of their species.
- Visceral reactions differ with plants and animals.
Why does eating animals kill more plants than eating plants?
Because raising animals for food is extremely inefficient—animals require large amounts of plant calories to produce a relatively small amount of edible animal calories because most of the calories are lost in metabolism and in growing non-edible parts (like bones, feathers, and skin).
According to the World Resources Institute, how many calories of plant feed does it take, on average, to produce one pound of animal feed?
It takes on average 24 calories of plant feed to produce one calorie of food from animals.
What percentage of the world’s soy and grain used for food is fed to animals, and who said so?
Over 75%, according to the UN and UN data compiled by the “Our World in Data” group.
In what ethically significant ways do plants differ from animals?
- Plants don’t suffer or feel pain.
- Plants cannot experience emotions.
- Plants have no self-awareness or sense of the future.
- Plants do not have desires, preferences, or interests.
Why can’t plants suffer or feel pain?
Because plants lack a brain and pain receptors, they cannot feel pain. Plants may sense they are being eaten through mechanoreceptors, but they don’t care.
Why can’t plants experience emotions?
Emotions are processed in the hippocampus and amygdala regions of the brain—neither of which are present in plants.
Why do plants have no self-awareness or sense of the future?
Thinking requires a brain, and without thought, there can be no self-awareness or sense of the future.
Why is it that plants cannot have desires, preferences, or interests?
These traits require thinking, and thinking requires a brain.
Why is there no reason plants would experience pain?
Pain is a response to avoid tissue damage by withdrawing or fleeing, and since plants have limited ability to withdraw or flee, there is no reason they would have evolved to feel pain.
Explain how some plants depend on being eaten for the survival of their species.
Some plants depend on being eaten to enhance the chances that their species will survive. The indigestible seeds of the plants will be spread over a wide geographical area as the plants are eaten by animals and then deposited in the animals’ excrement.
