Quote from: no-ice-please on December 30, 2014, 03:47:05 AM

Quote from: Stijn on December 30, 2014, 03:07:45 AM

Quote from: no-ice-please on December 30, 2014, 02:32:00 AM

You can say you do not know what awareness or will another being has, but you cannot say they have none because you do not know.

there is no evidence that plants have a will (because plants lack a central nervous system...)

Will has little to do with a central nervous system. It's like saying you know babies don't drink milk because you never see them buying milk bottles.

for babies we have some evidence that they drink milk. I've seen them doing it. For plants there is no evidence that they have a will. Having a will requires having a consciousness, and it is generally scientifically excepted that consciousness is generated by brains.

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But according to your beliefs /
If you like, look at the latest reseatch that shows something akin to brain cells in various other parts of the body. Today science says those neurons have one function. Tomorrow it will be another function.

yes, it is up to science to answer questions like who has a will. But let's not run ahead of science.

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What is missing on all sides of this argument is the realization that you can't learn the truth when you already know something else. The old zen thing about having to empty the mind of garbage so there is space for something else.

for scientific progress we don't have to empty our minds. We only have to listen to the evidence and think consistently. A scientists is able to chance his beliefs, based on evidence.