Research

Publications

Is New Omnivorism Bad for Your Character?

Here, I argue that we have strong moral reasons not to eat meat even when doing so makes no causal contribution to animal suffering and slaughter in the meat industry. This is because seeing some creatures, but not others, as potential food is an instance of speciesist prejudice that makes one's character worse, and habituating ourselves to respond to other animals in less speciesist ways will involve abstaining from meat.

The Many Meanings of Belief

Synthese, 206 (258): 1-16. 2025 ↗

In this paper, I argue that ordinary uses of the word 'belief' vary significantly both in the strength of the attitude they express and in the epistemic norms that govern them. 'Belief' can pick out multiple attitudes governed by weak, strong, or even no evidentiary norms. These ordinary uses often come apart from popular philosophical theories of belief, raising tough questions about how we ought to proceed when theorizing.

Why You Should Not Serve Meat at Your Next Catered Event

Politics, Philosophy & Economics 24(1), 3-24. 2025 ↗

This paper argues that even if it is morally permissible for individuals to eat meat we nevertheless typically shouldn’t serve meat. In doing so, I discuss the often overlooked ways that we can help address collective action problems through our institutional roles.

Enhancing Animals is “Still Genetics”: Perspectives of Genome Scientists and Policymakers on Animal and Human Enhancement

AJOB Empirical Bioethics,16(2), 94–102. 2024 ↗

Authors: Rebecca L. Walker, Zachary Ferguson, Logan Mitchell, & Margaret Waltz

In this study, we use interview data to investigate how genome editors and policymakers view the ethical issues raised by animal genome editing. Overall, respondents saw animal enhancement as morally less complicated than human genomic enhancement. This may be related to the widespread perception among participants that animals have lesser moral status than humans.

A Song Turned Sideways Would Sound as Sweet

Analysis, 81 (1): 14-18. 2021 ↗

What would happen if you rotated a song sideways in time? Some philosophers claim it would destroy the music's intrinsic aesthetic value and that this reveals something deep about the nature of time. I disagree. In this paper, I argue that, while spatiotemporal rotations might affect our experience of the music, there is no reason to think they will destroy its intrinsic value or or that this thought experiment gives any insight into which theory of time is correct.

Works in Progress

A paper exploring the implications of our practice of talking about animals using many of the same moralized character terms that we use to talk about humans.

A paper about how eating and using animal products like dairy, eggs, and wool bears on our moral character and the ways that such use may or may not involve speciesist prejudice.