Do plants have souls? This question was raised by Aristotle in the article On Plants. Are souls only bound to living beings such as animals and humans? Aristotle mentions that if one has a soul, it reacts to sensation and desire. Plants, however, are shown to react to stimuli and follow many of the properties that living creatures do. So does this attribute to plants containing souls?
In his article, Aristotle draws many parallels that plants share with living creatures. Both beings require nourishment to sustain life. Plants and animals reproduce with separated male and female members. They grow over time and their offspring move and travel. In addition, many plants vary in type, shape, and function based on its environment, similar to animals. Aristotle also notes that plants require complex compositions from the earth to create and grow. Considering the above, what makes plants less than a human?
A plant has no mind for free will and understanding. This may be the primary reasoning behind why many people view plants more inanimate than animate. Now, look at today's modern computers. They are inanimate objects. Produced in a factory, assembled by man. Unlike plants, they do not need to feed or reproduce. Computers do not worry about survival. They are less alive than plants are.
However, computers are able to choose and understand. With many advances in modern technology in the field of Artificial Intelligence, computers are seemingly closer to replicating the process of the human mind. Given software, computers may be able to recognize speech patterns and respond accordingly. They are also able to calculate things such as risk-rewards based on given input.
Some may argue that computers do not really understand the input they are given. They only select the output by following given instructions from a software and act accordingly based on the input. But who is to say that the human brain does not work like that? Scientists have yet to completely figure out how the brain functions. It could be that our brain stores instructions and data through lessons and when given an input, it searches the storage for what to do. Wouldn't that be similar to how a computer functions?
Plants act closer to humans because of their actions to survive, but they do not have a mind for understanding. Is it possible for it to have a soul without the mind? How about computers? They are capable of processing and understanding inputs, like the human mind. If that is what attributes humans to have souls, then maybe computers may have souls.
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