Arboreality and the Ethics of Standing in Place

Trees and plants are receiving renewed attention as work in both the sciences and humanities is affirming their intelligence, agency, and relationality. If trees are more than merely instrumental beings, what is our ethical responsibility toward them? Taking a phenomenological approach, trees themselves are grounded in a particular place. Edward S. Casey’s phenomenological work on place gives insight into one approach to arboreal ethics by considering how trees create place both within and outside of the forest. While trees may not have a right to life, they may have a right to place, and an ethic of standing in place considers both individual and surrounding, acknowledging ecological interrelationships. In this chapter, I take Casey’s phenomenology of place as a starting point for an arboreal ethic which recognizes trees as non-human others that can be considered for some rights and also acknowledges that our lives depend on taking theirs. I will also consider vegetal ethics, particularly in Michael Marder’s philosophy, and other place-based approaches to environmental ethics. Rather than propose a fully developed ethic, I uncover some of the unique issues trees pose to Western ethics and point towards potential respectful relationships with trees and plants.