On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 06:24:13 +0100, Alan Gould
wrote:

In article , Helen
writes
Recently I saw a programme about whether or not plants have feelings - some
said "of course they don't" and there were others who said they were sure
they did. What do you think?

Plants react to their treatment and surroundings by various means. They
are born, grow, feed, drink, procreate, protect themselves, age and die.
They are living beings, as are mobile creatures of the animal world.
They do not have a brain but they do have the equivalent of a nerve
system by which messages are carried between their physical parts.

In humans, feelings are seen as the operation of the nerve system in
body and mind. That makes them sentient creatures. They can observe and
communicate about the feelings of other beings, but they cannot
experience them. That has often led to a belief that such feelings do
not exist, as seen in the case of fish, animals and even other humans.

I personally think that plants do have feelings of a type, though
probably not experienced as humans feel pain or emotion.

Respond to stimuli is one of the six things that all living things
do. I have been trying to remember the other five:-
Eat, breathe, reproduce, grow and ???. Judging by myself the sixth
thing could be forget!

P