Theophrastus was an Ancient Greek dude, whose imporance I hope to persuade you of. Living between 371-287 BCE, he was one of Aristotle’s besties, and even ran the Lyceum as Aristotle’s successor.
The reason people know him today is because Theophrastus wrote some books about plants that were among the most important on that subject for over a thousand years. In _Plant Explanations_ and _Inquiry into Plants_, Theophrastus didn’t merely catalogue plants (although I think it is supremely cool that he wrote whole tracts about different kinds of trees), but he also discussed plant morphology, reproduction, and usage.
Another aspect of Theophrastus’s writings is even more interesting, however. In his understanding of plants, he represents a sort of “path not taken” regarding ideas about plant intelligence. Whereas Aristotle was super interested in making a sort of hierarchical ladder of life, putting plants lowest, then animals, and only then humans (especially men) at the top, Theophrastus wrote about plants as autonomous beings, existing outside of their relationships with humans. “Plants were not at all passive but rather in constant motion, seeking after their desires,” summarizes science writer Zoë Schlanger.
Because Aristotle’s influence won out, thinking of plants as having behaviors or possessing desires disappeared from the Western intellectual tradition, and only within recent decades have scientists begun acknowledging this.
Sources: Pp 37-39 _The Light Eaters_ by Zoë Schlanger, HarperCollins, 2024.
