Do plants have feelings? Yes or No?

Question

So do they? I read in a science mag that they actually do feel. If this is true, i think vegetarians should reconsider eating something else.

Answer 1

i think this is up for debate. I am doing a research/power point presentation on this topic...more specifically if playing music and talking to your plants has a positive effect on their growth/health.  Studies both support and deny these claims.  I think plants can sense things but they don't have emotions comparable to humans.

Answer 2

According to Cleve Backster they do. His lie detector shows that they have many emotions but other peoples lie detectors have not verified this claim.

I do know that all living things try to avoid harm and seek to grow. Is that feelings? when a plant turns to face the sun is it feeling good?

I think that even though the exact mode of feeling for plants is alien to us they do in fact have feelings simply because they are living things, weather we understand it or not.

Answer 3

I asked my Fern, and she told me to stuff it.  So, I guess we'll never know.

Answer 4

There is a serious philosophical question behind your question.  There are several.

What is consciousness?

What are feelings?

The current debate is whether or not fish feel pain.  There is, by no rigorous measurable statistic, any way to tell if plants have consciousness of any order (no brains) and therefore the idea of measuring how they feel is an exercise in futility.

I think the author is inferring that the plant has feelings, when its not really in the data.