Gardens and the Gardener-Plant Relation

A Main Arena of Human-Plant Interaction

In more than one respect, the ethics of gardening is somewhat close to environmental virtue ethics: not only do both approaches emancipate themselves from the moral status model, they also partly converge on the concepts they use. This trend is exemplified by numerous arguments within the ethics of gardening that build on praiseworthy character traits commonly associated with the practice of gardening, such as humility or patience. Generally speaking, the ethics of gardening is to be counted among those increasingly endorsed approaches within moral philosophy that derive normative claims from the relations that moral agents (in this case, gardeners) entertain (in this case, with their gardens). As a setting for mutually beneficial human-plant interactions (plants are given the means to flourish, while humans gain the opportunity to engage in recreational, cultural, and aesthetical activities), the practice of gardening is a promising target for plant ethical investigations.

Two book-long contributions to the field are due to David E. Cooper and Robert P. Harrison:

  • Cooper, David E. 2006. A Philosophy of Gardens. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Harrison, Robert P. 2008. Gardens. An Essay on the Human Condition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

The anthology Gardening - Philosophy for Everyone sheds light on historical, philosophical, and in particular ethical aspects of gardens and the practice of gardening. Here is a small selection of texts from the book with an explicitly ethical outlook:

  • Brook, Isis. 2010. "The Virtues of Gardening." In Gardening - Philosophy for Everyone. Cultivating Wisdom, edited by Dan O'Brien, 13-25. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Hall, Matthew. 2010. "Escaping Eden. Plant Ethics in a Gardener's World." In Gardening - Philosophy for Everyone. Cultivating Wisdom, edited by Dan O'Brien, 38-47. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Ray, Megan T. 2010. "Cultivating the Soul. The Ethics of Gardening." In Gardening - Philosophy for Everyone. Cultivating Wisdom, edited by Dan O'Brien, 26-38. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.