Heidegger's Philosophical Botany

Heidegger, in his 1929/30 lecture course translated as Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics, argues that for being x to count as a living being it must be capable of i) engaging in active behaviour ii) with a form of intentional directedness that iii) offers to human beings a ‘sphere of transposition’ into which we can ‘transpose themselves’. Heidegger discusses i)-iii) in relation to animals but if the argument is sound these categories must also apply to plants. However, the ontology of plants is missing. This paper is an attempt to make good on this omission. The argument is that plants are active self-movers, their movements displaying a rudimentary form of motor intentionality.