Summarise the argument by which this statement might be justified. How might one argue against it? Can any such arguments be verified by experiment

You have 30 minutes

isn't the brain what controls walking so therefor, plants cant walk walk because they have no brain...

or...

whatever...


Bored Donut?

Sorry Jorath, you're over 30 minutes late [img]tongue.gif[/img]

It's a good thing plants can't walk, otherwise we'd have a hard time smoking them. They would run away, and we'd have to catch them instead of just pulling them out of the ground.

con:
Many people never had, or have lost the ability to walk. Though it cannot be assumed that all people have brains, as a working hypothesis it may be accepted. If it is then stipulated that people have brains yet do not walk then it is possible that plants, which do not walk might also have a brain.

Mmmmm! I like the cut o' yer jib antyrg! We've made a start.
What about the experiments?

We could water people in wheelchairs and see if they blossom ...

The scientific method and Aristotlean (sp?) science don't exactly go hand in hand but.....

1)place a bedridden person and a plant in a dark room which has light only coming in from one window. Do the plant and person both lean towards the light?

2)place a non-walking person and a plant in a room and give neither food? Do one or both die?
3) repeat #2 but hold back water instead of food. Are the results the same?
4) repeat #2 but give food and water but remove all the oxygen. What is the result?

If plants and people need food, air, and water to sruvive and yearn towards the light might we not infer that plants have a brain?

Plants can't walk thus they stay at the same local point all their life*.
Thus plants who have a brain go insane sooner or later.
Thus all plants with a brain became extinct throughout evolution because they became insane and committed suicide**.
Thus plants lost their brain because they couldn't walk.
Thus plants have no brain because they can't walk.
q.e.d.


* assuming they do not get move by humans interfering with nature
** e.g. leaning away from the light, closing the blossoms at all time, etc.

This was a question on the entrance examination to study medicine at Cambridge University.

Looks like no one on IW will be attending. :D