Frontiers in Plant Physiology
May 20, 2026
Luís Felipe Basso, František Baluška, Gustavo Maia Souza
Historically constrained by mechanistic and cerebrocentric paradigms, plant life is increasingly recognized as a complex expression of biological agency. Building upon this paradigm shift, this article presents a theoretical synthesis integrating Cellular Cognitive Biology, Biosemiotics, and Phenomenology. We explore how the transition from a reactive to an agentic view of plants is grounded in...
Bio Systems
2025
František Baluška, William B. Miller, Predrag Slijepcevic et al.
10 citations
Cells represent the basic units of life, not only as structural building blocks, but also as cognitive agents endowed with subjective cellular feelings, sentience (consciousness), and cognitive infocomputatioal competence. Living cells act as 'Kantian Wholes': All of its parts exist for and by means of the whole system, allowing cells to use sentient agency for solving existential problems and...
Biosyst.
December 1, 2024
William B. Miller, František Baluška, Arthur S. Reber et al.
The presumption that experiential consciousness requires a nervous system and brain has been central to the debate on the possibility of developing a conscious form of artificial intelligence (AI). The likelihood of future AI consciousness or devising tools to assess its presence has focused on how AI might mimic brain-centered activities. Currently, dual general assumptions prevail: AI...
Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
July 30, 2021
Paco Calvo, František Baluška, Anthony Trewavas
It is commonly assumed that plants do not possess consciousness. Since the criterion for this assumption is usually human consciousness this assumption represents a top down attitude. It is obvious that plants are not animals and using animal criteria of consciousness will lead to its rejection in plants. However using a bottom up evolutionary approach and a leading theory of consciousness,...
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
March 3, 2021
František Baluška, William B. Miller, Arthur S. Reber
96 citations
Cells emerged at the very beginning of life on Earth and, in fact, are coterminous with life. They are enclosed within an excitable plasma membrane, which defines the outside and inside domains via their specific biophysical properties. Unicellular organisms, such as diverse protists and algae, still live a cellular life. However, fungi, plants, and animals evolved a multicellular existence....