humans are animals too.. we're counted as mammal closest to prime apes and animals do have feelings. They may call it instinct or whatever fancy scientific word they come up for but what difference does it make for a human mothers loving their childrens and mother animals loving their cubs? Both of them come very protective when it comes to the saftey of their offsprings. But plants are different. They are stationary in one place so I suppose its not necessery for them to have feelings.i think they don't have feelings.neither do animalsfeelings are something reserved for humans only.and even if they can make high pitched sounds or whatever, i don't think that constitutes as a legitimate reason as to why they have feelings. engines can make sounds that humans can't hear, but they don't have feelings.
Do plants have feelings?
Started by
Guest_JBHKhoo98
, Jun 28 2009 01:10 AM
72 replies to this topic
#51
Guest_Renny1004
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Posted 06 November 2009 - 04:01 AM
#52
Guest_electrosmurf
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Posted 08 November 2009 - 12:42 PM
I think your argument is invalid. Let's see a situation were a single plant doesn't produce the toxic. Al the bugs would attack that plant. So instead of an emotional reaction, it's a simple cause and effect of nature. A plant just produces that toxin just because they want to preserve themselves.I don't believe the fact that plants have feelings. Let's break down what we understand by feelings. We as humans have a lot of feelings, we have emotions. But is emotion equal to a feeling? Is pain a feeling or an emotion. Sadness is an emotion, but not a feeling. So pain is a feeling, but not a emotion. You can be sad, but you can't be pain. In that way all animals have feelings, but not all have emotions. An ant is not capable of something like love, but an elephant is. Ants don't mourn, elephants do. A plant is lesser then an ant(brainwise spoken), so emotions are impossible. Feelings, i don't think so. All that plants are capable off are simple cause and effect reactions. They turn to the light, move away from cars slamming against their branches, ...But after all, isn't all just cause and effect? Don't we feel sad because something happened or because a particular hormone is affecting us?I don't think plants have feelings, I don't think "lesser" animals have emotions, but that doesn't mean we can be mean against them because we do.But if a single plant starts producing a toxin, all of the plants around it will as well because they're all preserving one another from being consumed in other words, its my belief that they protect one another. Would you not consider that as being an emotional reaction, it would be the equivalent of a mother feeling the need to protect her children.I stand by my thoughts that plants have feelings
#53
Guest_Gaizer_Dragon
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Posted 14 November 2009 - 08:24 AM
Scientificly, plants don't have a brain.It doesn't have nervous system, so they don't detect the damage done to them.FYI : animals have feelings, they know when they're in danger or safe.
#54
Guest_leilaboo
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Posted 07 December 2009 - 11:45 PM
I don't think plants have feelings, but why do green fingered people insist they respond to them when they talk to them. ive tried to keep pot plants with not a lot of luck as iam not green figered in the slightest and talking to them did not help either...unless i talked them to death????GPs were deducted for this post, please read the rules! - reddeath26
#55
Guest_azn_ninja216
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Posted 16 December 2009 - 04:39 AM
I thought that episode proved that plants didn't have feelings... and also maybe the thing with the plants and the different types of music; maybe plants grow better in environments with different sound wave frequencies. just like they grow better with different light wavelengthsPlants definitely have feelings. Didn't you guys see that episode of mythbusters? Here is a clip if you are interested.
#56
Guest_karmakode
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Posted 18 December 2009 - 07:13 AM
Although you make a good point, and yes, this is a pretty weird topic, i think that plants do have the ability to feel, wether it be physical feelings, such as pain or pleasure, or mental feelings like anger and sadness. I am absolutely positive that plants can feel pain, and they do feel fear, which has been proven before by a German scientist. He had three ficus trees, two of which were hooked up to one of those machines that monitors brain activity. He took the one that wasn't hooked up to one, ripped it out of the pot, beat it relentlessly, and ground it into the floor. While he was doing this, the other two machines started going nuts, and when he left the room, they slowly calmed down. When he walked back in, THE PLANTS RECOGNIZED HIM and the machines started showing massive brain activity again. All of this, in my opinion, is dead proof that plants can think and feel just as well as the rest of us, they just can't do anything to express these feelings. Also, the statement about talking to the plants making them grow better, this is just simple science: when you talk, you release more carbon dioxide (which plants thrive on, and turn into oxygen) than when you breath. This causes the plants to grow better, because they are getting more "fuel" to survive on.this is probbaly the weirdest topic ever. I doubt that plants have any feelings, though there are some who believe they do....for example, some believe that by talking to plants they grow better and have fuller shapes.
#57
Guest_OnomStarr
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Posted 16 August 2010 - 07:29 AM
A plant has the ability to grow and thrive, which makes it a living thing, but not a sentient thing. Kind of like a robot that gives you tomatoes every now now and then.So it may not exhibit feelings or emotions, but that doesn't prove it CAN'T feel.To quote Vicious Whispers, "Every time you cut into an onion, somewhere out in the cosmos it screams." 
#58
Guest_Forum Freak
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Posted 16 August 2010 - 04:47 PM
Plants are actually very smart!I mean, they have no eyes but they made bright flowers to attract bees? Sweet smells to also attract animals? They also grew into a shape that is perfect for their job on the planet!How can something with no eyes or brain evolve into something so perfectly adapt to out planet? As they have no heart or brain the have no nerves, thus no feelings!
#59
Guest_vitcopnum
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Posted 19 August 2010 - 05:44 AM
I don't think plants have feelings, not saying they aren't living, but merely saying that they can't feel or express emotions. And also, of course animals have feelings. We used to be animals, and we still are animals. We just can communicate our feelings to each other easier than, let say a bear. Also, how we think of them as "beasts/animals" is what they might be thinking of us. We haven't decoded how other animals communicate, but give it three centuries and I'll bet you'll see, well you won't be alive, but humans will be able to understand all their feelings.
#60
Guest_Freak Parade
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Posted 20 August 2010 - 12:28 AM
Plants lack a central nervous system.Unlike animals, plants do not have a central nervous system. Our central nervous system is what allows us to almost immediately respond to stimuli. The animals we eat have central nervous systems just like us, which makes it conceivable that they feel pain as we do.Plants do not have a central nervous system, so they respond much more slowly to stimuli than we do. There may be some interesting studies that conclude that plants are more complex than we once thought, but there's no evidence that plants are on an equal level with animals in their response to stimuli. Think about it this way; do you feel the same way about kicking a dog as you do about stomping on a patch of grass?
Edited by Freak Parade, 20 August 2010 - 12:29 AM.
#61
polopbob
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Posted 23 August 2010 - 05:23 PM
Plants may, or may not lack a central nervous system. But that doesn't mean it can't have feeling's.Like every other organism, plants also consist out of cells.The brain and nervous consist out of many bundles of cells, some part are even a single cell. So therefore i believe that a plant can have the organs and cells to 'feel', perhaps just in a 'different' way. the organs that are required may not be visible of size to the human eye, which could be a reason to deny the fact that they may have it.If the brain is the essential part to perform actions, a plant must have one otherwise it can't performs actions such as using sunlight and oxygen to create it's energy, and transform the part it doesn't use into starch, which they can use later when required. It is know that they can feel physically in some way, since plants grow toward the light. So why not emotionally?As certain studies have proven, to perform actions you need to have a certain motivation; like if one start eating it requires the a motivation to eat, in this case hunger. Feelings and motivations are somewhat linked to each other. So like i said before i believe that plants can feel, perhaps just in a different way than humans or animals.Plants lack a central nervous system.Unlike animals, plants do not have a central nervous system. Our central nervous system is what allows us to almost immediately respond to stimuli. The animals we eat have central nervous systems just like us, which makes it conceivable that they feel pain as we do.Plants do not have a central nervous system, so they respond much more slowly to stimuli than we do. There may be some interesting studies that conclude that plants are more complex than we once thought, but there's no evidence that plants are on an equal level with animals in their response to stimuli. Think about it this way; do you feel the same way about kicking a dog as you do about stomping on a patch of grass?
I don't really agree with what you say last, that depends on how one individual thinks and feels about certain things. For instance if i really hated dogs i coudn't care much if it's kicked, but if i really like dogs then i would become angry or sad when a dog is violated.Think about it this way; do you feel the same way about kicking a dog as you do about stomping on a patch of grass?
Edited by polopbob, 23 August 2010 - 05:23 PM.
#62
Guest_jony man
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Posted 26 August 2010 - 11:42 PM
Plants have feeling but not in the same way that we perceive feelings. I don't think they cry or get angry at us or at each other but they do feel something. Try this link:http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2008/12/09/recent_studies_have_proven_pla.aspxThey are not as complex as we are but they still feel pain. If a creature far more complex than us were to start annihilating us because we were in his way and he really didnt want us around would we feel something? Yes. Now my point of view maybe a little childish and not as complex as other answers but i have a simple way of thought and the first thing that comes to my mind and its not refuted with evidence then i believe in it.
#63
Guest_Milkboi
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Posted 02 October 2010 - 03:24 AM
Even though plants have no feelings, what i heard is that music can aid in the growth of plants 
Even though plants have no feelings, we should not neglect them, thinking that "it's just a plant" and felt lazy and therefore chose to forgot to water plants, etc.Since plants have no feelings, it makes it a good "person" to talk to of all your secret that you had hidden in your heart 
GPs were deducted for this post, please read the rules! - jamzemu
Even though plants have no feelings, we should not neglect them, thinking that "it's just a plant" and felt lazy and therefore chose to forgot to water plants, etc.Since plants have no feelings, it makes it a good "person" to talk to of all your secret that you had hidden in your heart GPs were deducted for this post, please read the rules! - jamzemu
#64
Guest_Gchenz
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Posted 03 October 2010 - 05:29 AM
For people who say that animals don't have, I hope you go near an animal, or I will call the RSPCA on you. :(As for the question do plants have feelings, I believe they do. We honestly don't know that muc about plants. It is known that plants can react to stimuli, but whether they can express 'emotions' is not very well understood. As for plants not having a CNS, it is true that they do not have the same type of structure as humans. However, plants do have a sort of inbuilt communication channel for ion transport, though it is relative slow compared to humans.Either way, I believe that plants do have 'feelings', just probably not in the same way as animals (yes, we are also animals). Even though plants have very slow reaction rates, they still have the ability to respond to stimuli and memory of the stimulus and response. The next time you pluck a leaf off a tree, just remember: It WILL remember you.
#65
Guest_alpha.nayak
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Posted 09 October 2010 - 05:24 PM
my mind says Plants do not have feelings in any way humans can perceive, it doesnt seem very necessary for such a stationary being to have them...but on the other side my heart says plants have feelings, but not even the plant itself can truly interpret those as 'feelings' as we understand it. Obviously, as a living thing, it has a vested interest in survival, and no one denies that plants are living. Plant feelings may just be uninterpretable because without a brain or a discernible nervous system, we really can't tell.
#66
lyzandred
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Posted 12 October 2010 - 09:11 PM
I dont think plants have feelings, but i do believe that they might be stimulated by the environment they are in.I also think they might feel pain, but i'm not sure about this.GPs were deducted for this post, please read the rules! - jamzemu
#67
Guest_Kreox
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Posted 19 October 2010 - 04:56 AM
Though, I'm too lazy to read through 6 pages of tl;dr, I do recall the did an experiment on myth busters about this and I believe it was inconclusive.The experiment connected a machine similar to a lie detector to the plant and see the patterns when they would look at the plant in an ugly way, or angry way. It did actually cause some pattern, but they couldn't figure out what caused it because when they did it in a different way (can't remember) it didn't move. But, with that aside, as the poster above said, they have no brain nor central nervous system. Our brain works out what makes us sad and what makes us happy, hence why everyone has different opinions and may feel emotionally different on certain topics. In addition, plants do not have nerve cells, which means they don't feel anything, including pain and if anyone reads up on psychology, Pain leads to sadness, sadness to anger and anger back to pain. Its a vicious cycle.
#68
Guest_anberlin4eva
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Posted 29 November 2010 - 03:56 AM
Weirdly enough, I say they do. Apparently, plants grow faster if they're talked to, and since they need water, food, and breathe like any other living creature, I just have that feeling that they do have "emotions".Or maybe they only feel like they are loved OR like they aren't loved. Usually, I don't believe in these things; scientifically, it makes no sense at all, but logically I guess it does to me.
#69
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Posted 02 December 2010 - 09:05 PM
As we understand it? No, plants don't feel pain. It's my understanding that plants have no functional nervous system, or at least not one functional in a way to process what we know as "pain."But as we can see if we look outside the box? Maybe. It IS possible that we don't completely understand plant life, and well, especially lately (even today, when the definition of life as we know it being rewritten), plants may very well feel pain, but they process it in a way that's completely unrelatable, and therefore nonunderstandable, to humans. This is one of my minor gripes with biology in general; when you break it down, humans can really only understand what pertains to them, and really, it boils down to "they don't feel pain like we do (via nervous system), therefore they don't feel pain." Maybe they simply perceive it different, after all, even humans do. If not, then explain masochism to me 
#70
Guest_zero2fallen
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Posted 09 May 2011 - 11:32 PM
I think plants do have feelings. Granted they dont cry or smile but you can tell the difference between a happy plant and a sad plant. Happy plants will be healthy and bountiful (depending on what kind of plant it is). Also happy plants will stand straight. Sad plants will wither and lean over and eventually die. Its kinda like a baby's diaper and a plants soil. if the plant is happy that means its good soil, same for a baby whose diaper is clean. A sad plant however may have bad soil, same for a baby. if a baby has a "soiled" diaper then the baby isnt happy. That baby has feelings about its diaper and plants have feelings about its soil. same for feeding a baby and watering a plant. both need it to survive and if they get to much it isnt good for them. If babies have feelings then plants have feelings.
#71
Guest_jamesan
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Posted 10 May 2011 - 10:10 PM
well there have been some studies where certain trees secrete chemicals similar to pheromones secreted by animals which would be used to communicate which at the base level is the beginning of feelingGPs were deducted for this post, please read the rules! - tedsb16
#72
Guest_Iamspartacus
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Posted 11 May 2011 - 11:12 PM
The answer is no, anything without souls, A.K.A. cats, babies, and plants, feel no pain at all. 
But in all seriousness, plants have no nerves and no emotions, therefore no feelings.GPs were deducted for this post, please read the rules! - tedsb16
But in all seriousness, plants have no nerves and no emotions, therefore no feelings.GPs were deducted for this post, please read the rules! - tedsb16
#73
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Posted 07 January 2012 - 03:32 AM
I don't know...my step mom talks to her planets and they grow better 
...so i guess if they're in a healthy environment and some love and care, then sure they'll have feelings
...so i guess if they're in a healthy environment and some love and care, then sure they'll have feelings
