Megan Dean
(She/Her)
South Kedzie Hall
368 Farm Ln
East Lansing, MI 48824
FacultyPhilosophy
Assistant Professor
Feminist Philosophy; Bioethics; Philosophy of Food and Eating; Science and Values
Biography
Megan Dean is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University. She works in Feminist Philosophy, Bioethics, and Science and Values, as well as 20th-century European Philosophy, especially Foucault and Phenomenology. Her current research is in the ethics of food and 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. Her work has appeared in journals including Feminist Philosophy Quarterly, Journal of Medical Ethics, and the Hastings Center Report. She 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.
Courses
PHL 344: Ethics of Health Care
PHL 356: Philosophical Aspects of Feminism
PHL 870: Seminar in Philosophy of Health Care – Feminist Bioethics
Publications
Dean, M. and L. Guidry-Grimes. “Smuggled Doughnuts and Forbidden Fried Chicken: Addressing Tensions around Family and Food Restrictions in Hospitals.” Hastings Center Report 53.4 (2023): 10-15.
Dean, M. “Time to Eat: The Importance of Temporality for Food Ethics.” International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics 15.2 (2022): 76-98.
Dean, M. “The ‘Worst Dinner Guest Ever’: On “Gut Issues” and Epistemic Injustice at the Dinner Table.” Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies 22.3 (2022): 59–71.
Dean, M. “Eating as a Self-Shaping Activity: The Case of Young Women’s Vegetarianism and Eating Disorders.” Feminist Philosophy Quarterly 7.3 (2021).
Dean, M. “A Defense of Mindless Eating.” Topoi 40 (2021): 504-516.
Dean, M. “Feminist Global Food Ethics.” The Routledge Handbook of Feminist Bioethics. Routledge, 2022.
Dean, M. “Eating As a Self-Shaping Activity: The Case of Young Women’s Vegetarianism and Eating Disorders.” Feminist Philosophy Quarterly 7.3 (2021).
Guidry-Grimes L, Dean M, Victor EK. “Covert administration of medication in food: a worthwhile moral gamble?” Journal of Medical Ethics 47 (2021): 389-393.
Media Mentions
Dialogues on Disability: Shelley Tremain Interviews Megan Dean
Biopolitical Philosophy
October 16, 2024
Thinking Bodies Podcast SE01 E03: Throwing Like a Girl
Thinking Bodies: A Feminist Philosophy Podcast
August 1, 2024
American Philosophical Association Member Interview: Megan Dean
Blog of the American Philosophical Association
February 11, 2022
FAB Gab Podcast Episode 27: Megan Dean on Clock Time, Stomach Time, and the Ethics of Eating
FAB Gab Podcast | International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics
December 14, 2022
