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CARING FOR PLANTS: CARE ETHICS IN RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN HUMAN CARERS AND PLANT CARED-FORS

In response to the human-centered contours of care in the mainstream ethical frameworks of Nel Noddings, Eva Feder Kittay, and Virginia Held, I consider the possibility of including plant life in care ethics. This dissertation argues for inclusion of plant cared-fors in care ethics based on the capability of human carers and plant cared-fors to meet central criteria at the core of the caring relationship: carers’ valuing-attitudes for plants, caring affect towards plants, human-plant interdependency, responsive interactivity between humans and plants, and plant success conditions. These factors establish the coherency of plant cared-fors in care ethics. After offering the argument for a plant inclusive care ethic, I demonstrate in three case studies that ethical care between human carers and plant cared-fors indeed is substantiated in the world. Through interviews and other empirical research, I provide sketches of contemporary relationships in the United States between human carers and plant cared-fors in three contexts: bonsai, tomato plants, and giant sequoia trees. Despite context-relevant challenges of each (aesthetic, consumption, and wild, respectively), the case studies highlight the possibility, and in some cases actuality, of ethical care in human-plant relationships of care. / Philosophy

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/9551
Date12 1900
CreatorsBrelje, Katherine
ContributorsSolomon, Miriam, McShane, Katie, Chislenko, Eugene, Hammer, Espen, Levitt, Laura, 1960-
PublisherTemple University. Libraries
Source SetsTemple University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis/Dissertation, Text
Format194 pages
RightsIN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Relationhttp://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/9513, Theses and Dissertations

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