Vegan reply to plants, sentience and 'Do you agree that our moral charge towards organisms relies on their degree of sentience'

Ron,
There is a difference between reacting on stimulus and between being sentient. Plants are not subjectively aware, i.e. they are not sentient. They don’t feel any subjective pain.

 

Yes, they react. But that doesn’t imply that they are sentient.

“Do you agree that our moral charge towards organisms relies on their degree of sentience?“
No, either you are sentient or you are not sentient. If you are sentient, you value your own life even if no one else is valuing your life. You have an inherent value. The speciecism of many humans doesn’t change your inherent value.
If you are not sentient, you are not subjectively aware, you are a thing and not a being.

Philosophies that grant different value compared to different sentient species are speciecist. This is discussed here: http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/do-chimpanzees-dolphins-and-elephants-matter-more/

 

“Plants have nervous systems with many neuronal connections.”
No, they don’t. Their stimulus response is caused by chemical reactions.

 

It is well-known scientifically that animals are conscious and feel pain, and that plants are not conscious and don’t feel pain.
See e.g. this about plants: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-plants-think-daniel-chamovitz
“Plants exhibit elements of anoetic consciousness which doesn’t include, in my understanding, the ability to think.  Just as a plant can’t suffer subjective pain in the absence of a brain, I also don’t think that it thinks.”

What do you think of this article: http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2013/08/are_we_the_animal-lovers_we_th.html ?