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Guide to Education Innovation
ISSN Print:2789-0732
ISSN Online:2789-0740
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Mutual Flourishing: Discussion and Strategies to Improve Plant Ethics in Horticultural Therapy
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Information:
Zhuhai University of Science and Technology, Zhuhai
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Keywords:
Plant ethics; Ecological ethics; Mutual flourishing; Horticultural therapy; Ethics of care
- Abstract: With growing attention to holistic health, horticultural therapy has been widely applied in psychological rehabilitation, older adult care, and special education. However, current practices often marginalize the ethical status of plants, treating them instrumentally while prioritizing human therapeutic outcomes. Such approaches risk obscuring the intrinsic value of plants as responsive living beings. Drawing on ecological ethics and the ethics of care, this study provides a normative analysis of three ethical limitations in contemporary horticultural therapy: the instrumentalization of plant-related language, the mechanization of plant care, and the unidirectional evaluation of therapeutic outcomes. In response, the study proposes three improvement strategies: Reframing professional language to acknowledge plants as companions, promoting a responsive care model grounded in observation and sensory engagement rather than procedural routines, and incorporating plant well-being into therapeutic evaluation frameworks. By emphasizing relational responsibility and mutual flourishing, this conceptual inquiry advocates a shift from human-centered practice toward a more ethically integrated model of human-plant interaction.
- DOI: 10.35534/gei.0602014 (registering DOI)
- Cite: Bai, Y. (2026). Mutual Flourishing: Discussion and Strategies to Improve Plant Ethics in Horticultural Therapy. Guide to Education Innovation, 6(2), 166-172.
