Megan Dean

Megan Dean is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University. She works in feminist bioethics with a focus on the ethics of eating. While most food ethics concentrates on the impact of food production and consumption on human and non-human others, the environment, and health, Dean’s work highlights the importance of the activity of eating itself. She argues that the ways we practice and understand eating shape important parts of ourselves, including agency, capacities, and self-understandings. Eating also raises important issues for interpersonal relationships, intersecting with the ethics of hospitality and family ethics. Her current projects articulate the ethical implications of eating for clinical ethics, diet research, personal food choice, and eating with and feeding others. Dean’s research has appeared in journals including The Hastings Center Report , Journal of Medical Ethics, Gastronomica, and Feminist Philosophy Quarterly.

Dean received her PhD in Philosophy from Georgetown University in 2019, and also holds an MA in Philosophy from the University of Alberta. Prior to joining MSU, Dean was the Chauncey Truax Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor at Hamilton College.