Plant emergence: The aesthetics of plant movement and the phenomenology of vegetal growth

Hal King

Environmental Values, 2025, vol. 34, issue 4-5, 372-396

Abstract: Whilst the phenomenon of ‘plant blindness’ is often problematised, conceived of as a negative phenomenon, whereby plants are overlooked in favour of animal kin, I would like to make the case for a kind of positive plant blindness, which takes into account the necessary blind spots requisite for our aesthetic appreciation of plants. Namely, I shall demonstrate that the phenomenality of growth and the elusiveness of what I shall call ‘plant emergence’, qua plant movement, necessarily involves certain ‘blind spots’ in our perception, which moreover shape our aesthetic appreciation of plants. By looking at plant blindness phenomenologically, we can begin to recover what Merleau-Ponty calls the ‘perceptual sense’ of our aesthetic appreciation of plants, as to eventually cultivate this appreciation. Accordingly, we shall demonstrate that the perceptual sense of our appreciation of plant ‘movement’ is a plant's growth. Whilst perceptual aids such as time-lapse photography might well help to accentuate the movement of plant growth, I shall argue that it is the unfolding nature of plant emergence, which stretches out over time, that underpins our aesthetic appreciation. With emphasis on the movement of vegetal growth, I shall explore the ways that this phenomenon shapes our aesthetic appreciation of our environments in general. In turn, I hope to illustrate how environmental aesthetics will benefit from a richer analysis of plant life.

Keywords: environmental aesthetics; plant emergence; plant blindness; perceptual sense; Merleau-Ponty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envval:v:34:y:2025:i:4-5:p:372-396

DOI: 10.1177/09632719251328174

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