Event Description
This COMPAS Panel, Food as Animals, explores the moral and political dimensions of raising and killing animals for consumption. We will examine the social and political dimensions to arguments for and against this practice, including by examining the gender and racial aspects to the cultural conversation around meat eating and veganism, and by better understanding the economic and environmental systems that exist to support it.
This event is part of the Center for Ethics and Human Values' 2025-26 COMPAS Program on the theme of Food.
Panelists
Nancy Williams (Wofford College, Philosophy)
Williams has served as chair of the college’s Department of Philosophy for three years and, since 2015, has been a board member of the Educated Choices Program, a nonprofit global organization advocating humane education and ethical eating. She also co-coordinates the Gender Studies Program at Wofford.
Her research interests include feminist philosophy and applied ethics, with a scholarly focus on feminist animal care theory. Some of her publications include, “Ethical Veganism as Quiet Resistance,” in the “Journal of Animal Ethics” and “Ethics of Care and ‘Humane’ Meat: Why Care is Not Ambiguous about ‘Humane’ Meat,” in the “Journal of Social Philosophy.”
Williams received her bachelor’s degree from Winthrop University, her master’s from the University of South Florida and her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.
Aaron Yarmel (Ohio State, Center for Ethics and Human Values)
Dr. Aaron Yarmel is the Associate Director of the Center for Ethics and Human Values at The Ohio State University. In addition to overseeing all CEHV programs, Aaron leads its efforts on dialogue facilitation and skill building, outreach, and the ETHOS Fellows program as part of the University's Shared Values Initiative. Aaron also teaches Conversations on Morality, Politics, and Society (ARTSSCI 2400/2400E) as well as ethics courses through the Department of Philosophy. Outside of his role with CEHV, he is the Founding Director of Philosophy Counseling and Consulting: an organization that offers dialogue facilitation training and philosophical counseling in the Logic-Based Therapy tradition.
Aaron’s research focuses on philosophy for children, AI ethics, social change, and two-level utilitarianism. He offers Philosophy for Children workshops through the Philosophy, Learning, and Teaching Organization (PLATO) and in collaboration with the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children. He serves on the board of directors and executive board (as treasurer) of PLATO and on the editorial board of Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis. Aaron holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an MSc in Philosophy of Science from the London School of Economics, and a Bachelor of Music from the Eastman School of Music.
Outside of his academic work, Aaron is passionate about advocating for the interests of animals and has been a vegan for 12 years. He frequently gives talks and workshops about animal ethics, social movement theory, and dialogue facilitation at activist conferences, universities, and festivals. Aaron is also an accomplished classical musician who has performed with a variety of orchestras and music festivals in the United States and Europe. His most recent music-related passion is building and collecting effects pedals and using them with his collection of electric mandolins.
Douglas Jackson-Smith (Ohio State, School of Environment and Natural Resources)
I am broadly trained as a sociologist, with significant background in geography, economics, political science, and anthropology. I believe deeply in the value of using social science theory and mixed methods to address pressing problems in the United States and abroad. Throughout my career, I have sought to balance the importance of structural determinants of social outcomes with the notion that individual and collective actors have significant agency in determining their choices and behaviors. My work has spanned multiple, overlapping scales to better understand the relative contributions of individual, household, community, institutional, and national/global drivers of farm structural change, land use transformations, and environmentally-relevant behaviors.
I utilize a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data in my research, including extensive use of secondary data, mail and internet surveys, key informant interviews, and focus groups). I have published research using multivariate statistical modeling as well as structured iterative analysis of qualitative data. I am particularly interested in finding ways to use geospatial technology and data to explore ways to integrate spatial processes and outcomes into my work.
Nearly all of my research is deeply collaborative and interdisciplinary, and my published work is targeted at journals and audiences across both social science and environmental science disciplines and outlets. I am increasingly interested in participatory and engaged models of scholarship, and seek opportunities to integrate the voices and experiences of farmers, citizens, and stakeholders in the design and use of scientific research.
Accommodations
To ask questions about accessibility or request accommodations, please contact CEHV Associate Director Aaron Yarmel (yarmel.2@osu.edu). At least two weeks' advance notice will help us to provide seamless access.