Abstract

We ask whether (or not) using some concept of representation to explain plant cognition is helpful. After reporting on a plurality of views regarding representation to explain the different levels of cognition, we shall focus on the possible presence of a particular conception of representation – a type of molecular representation – relevant to the plant case. Under the banner of a processual and relational approach to cognition, we shall ask about the possible relationship among representational aspects considering 1) the role played by biological chemical-electrical signalling networks internal to plant organisms and, more specifically, 2) plants’ abilities to perceive, store and learn environmental information. We shall quest whether and what kind of role plant memory plays, at its various levels of functioning, both with the ability to structure a set of processual elements and dynamics and with the ability to recall these elements and dynamics upon repetition of similar situations. Then, we shall ask whether and what relationship plant memory plays as far as a molecular concept of representation is concerned. The question remains open.