Eating as a Self-Shaping Activity

Feminist Philosophy Quarterly 7 (3) (2021)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper contends that eating shapes the self; that is, our practices and understandings of eating can cultivate, reinforce, or diminish important aspects of the self, including agency, values, capacities, affects, and self-understandings. I argue that these self-shaping effects should be included in our ethical analyses and evaluations of eating. I make a case for this claim through an analysis and critique of the hypothesis that young women’s vegetarianism is a risk, sign, or “cover” for eating disorders or disordered eating. After outlining the relevant empirical literature, I suggest that the evidence for this hypothesis is inconclusive. Given this uncertainty, we should consider the risks of making a mistake when accepting or rejecting this understanding of young women’s eating. I argue that these risks importantly include negative effects on the self, such as damage to moral and epistemic agency. Along with other potential consequences of mistakenly accepting the hypothesis, these effects give us reason to reject it pending more conclusive research. Overall, this paper offers a philosophical intervention into the debate over the relationship between vegetarianism and eating disorders while illustrating the ethical importance and relevance of eating as a self-shaping activity.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,486

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

In Defense of Mindless Eating.Megan A. Dean - 2020 - Topoi 40 (3):507-516.
A Cross-Sectional Survey of Eating Self-Efficacy in Nigerian University Students.Vera Victor-Aigbodion - 2024 - International Journal of Home Economics, Hospitality and Allied Research 3 (1):365-377.

Analytics

Added to PP
2021-09-13

Downloads
51 (#454,370)

6 months
9 (#365,566)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Megan A. Dean
Michigan State University

Citations of this work

Being an Anorectic versus Having Anorexia: Should the DSM Diagnostic Criteria Be Modified?Melayna Schiff - 2024 - International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics 17 (1):25-48.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references