Dr. Jessica Spector is a philosopher and historian working at the intersection of cultural history and ethics. Her work traces questions of the self through social practices surrounding farming, alcohol, and bodily labor.
Dr. Jessica Spector is an author, researcher, and academic whose work spans scholarship, teaching, and applied practice. She holds a master’s degree and PhD in philosophy, with training in history and religious studies, as well as certifications in language and writing instruction and professional diplomas in the spirits world. Her work explores the social forces that shape how we live, with particular attention to where culture, commerce, and morality meet — from the labor we value, to the stories we tell, to the drinks we share.
Work & Approach
Focusing on the way we construct meaning through consumption, labor, and social practice, Dr. Spector examines the cultural weight of various activities, particularly those involving drink and sex. For over 30 years, her scholarship has centered on how moral systems and practices impact individuality, particularly in the form of societal taboos and the way various communities’ stories are told or silenced. This work has taken her from archives and archaeological sites to warehouses, bars, and distilleries, learning from the material artifacts of culture and the people who hold irreplaceable generational knowledge.
Dr. Spector’s research in moral psychology explores how seemingly descriptive accounts are often value-laden, revealing the social relations that structure our sense of self. This philosophical foundation informs her work across various domains: from questions of personal identity and moral agency, to ethical issues surrounding the sex industry, to the ways a sense of place shapes our relationships to food and drink.
From Research to Practice
Dr. Spector’s work is driven by curiosity about untold human stories and the forces that shape value, selfhood, and agency. Through the study of material culture and social practice, she traces philosophical questions that emerge in everyday life. She has served on the faculty at The University of Chicago, Roosevelt University, Trinity College, and Yale University, where she teaches seminars on drink culture and ethics. Her research, writing, and teaching have received multiple honors, and she regularly speaks on philosophy and history and advises community and industry organizations. She also brings this work into practice through private seminars, training, and consulting at The Academy LLC™ and The Academy Drinks™.
Beyond the classroom and the conference room, Dr. Spector is the founder of Green Robin Farms, which applies principles of permaculture and regenerative agriculture through experimental agroforestry, reflecting her broader philosophical interest in how natural and cultural landscapes structure identity. The farm integrates maple, berries, mushrooms, and herbs within a diverse forest ecosystem, reintroducing native plants, supporting wildlife corridors, and reducing pressure on endangered species.
Dr. Spector’s publications include academic articles on ethics and identity, a book on cocktails, the collection Prostitution and Pornography: Philosophical Debate About the Sex Industry, and contribution to Bloomsbury Press’s forthcoming series The Cultural History of Prostitution. Her work has appeared in leading philosophy journals and scholarly anthologies from major academic presses, and she is a frequent interview subject and consultant on ethics and cultural history, with appearances in outlets as diverse as VinePair, Inside Hook, The Hartford Courant, Fox News and public radio.
Dr. Spector has lectured extensively at the University of Chicago, Roosevelt University, Trinity College, and Yale University
Dr. Spector has tailored a number of virtual and in-person presentations seminars, as well as bespoke tastings through The Academy Drinks™—an interactive sensory experience devoted to the history and culture of drinks, spirits, and cocktails.
Practice
Green Robin Farms
Green Robin Farms practices responsible farming that starts with trees — combining traditional techniques with current research to grow healthier food while enriching the land. By integrating berries, mushrooms, and herbs into a hardwood forest and native understory, we reduce pressure on rare species and foster a resilient ecosystem that supports wildlife and birds — always growing with intention.
The Academy LLC
Effective writing and persuasive argument can feel elusive — even talented writers struggle to know what it means to truly “tighten” their prose or target the right audience. The Academy’s consultants teach the principles of logic and rhetoric behind strong communication, offering writing consultation services tailored to companies and firms for whom advanced professional writing is paramount.
The Academy Drinks
Dr. Spector has tailored a number of virtual and in-person presentations, seminars, and bespoke tastings through The Academy Drinks™—an interactive sensory experience devoted to the history and culture of drinks, spirits, and cocktails.
“We form meaning through work, consumption, and a sense of place. I’m especially interested in the boundaries formed around certain labors, pleasures, and identities — those sites where a community says, ‘This is bad, don’t touch.’ Such boundaries reveal how moral values, cultural anxieties, and social power interact, shaping our understanding of ourselves and one another.”
Selected Publications & Research
Selected Presentations
American Whiskey: Bourbon and Rye
History of America in Three Cocktails: Manhattan, Martini, Daiquiri
Molasses to Rum to Slaves: Daiquiri, Caipirinha, Mojito
What Makes a Whiskey American
Whiskey the Old-Fashioned Way: An American Story
Whiskey, Women, and Song
Culture and History of Vermouth: A Three Part Series
Cocktail Parties As the Post War Salon: Drink Culture and Home Entertaining
Culture, Cocktails, and Historical Context
History of the Cocktail Party
1920 vs 2020
Post-Pandemic Predictions: Prohibition or Roaring 20’s Renaissance?
The Roots of Prohibition
Irish Whiskey, Scotch Whisky & the Power of Excise Tax
Punk Burns Night
Robert Burns
Scots Wha Hae
Whisky Capital of the World
Rome, Russia & American: 3 Different Models of Propaganda (Through Drink)
Scotch Whisky
Steampunk Theme-park: The Oddest Distillery
Down from the Tower: Prostitution, Philosophy and the Academy, The Chicago Society, The University of Chicago
Liberal and Libertarian Views on Prostitution, RealArtways, Hartford
Liberalism and the Global Sex Industry, International Sex Worker Film Festival and Conference, San Francisco
Moral Concerns about Cloning, University of Hartford
Pornography: Harms & Benefits, University College Dublin
Prostitution and Pornography, Center for Collaborative Teaching and Research
Sex, Money & Politics: Things We Aren’t Supposed to be Taught and Why We Should Be
After the Skepticism: Hume’s Recovery of the Self, The University of Chicago
A Notion Born of Thought and Passion: the Story of Personal Identity Underlying Hume’s Account of Pride, Harvard University
Ascribing Blame and Awarding Praise to One Person over Time, Rice University
Hume on Miracles, Southern Illinois University
Hume’s Moral Psychology and the Continuity of Agency, DePaul University
Hume’s Moral Psychology and the Continuity of Agency, Trinity College
Locke on Responsibility and Accountability, Barnard College
Moral Experience and the Concept of Self, Oklahoma State University
Personal Identity in Locke’s Essay, The University of Chicago
Personal Identity without Soul, Columbia University
Pride and Moral Agency, Old Dominion University
Pride and Moral Agency, Southern Illinois University
Responsibility, Accountability & the Self, Bates College
The Moral Problem of Personal Identity, Idaho State University
The Self: Contemporary Metaphysical Question to Historical Moral Answer, Antioch College
Theoretical and Practical Questions Concerning Personal Identity, Knox College
Studying the History of Early Modern Europe, Early Modern Cultures Conference on Institutions of Toleration in the Early Modern Period, The University of Chicago
The Scottish Enlightenment and David Hume, English-Speaking Union
Celtic New Year/Samheim/Halloween
Dr. Spector has studied spirits for more than a quarter century, working in both distilleries and archives while gathering the stories, knowledge, and cultural history that she brings to her presentations.
Excavating the oldest still in Scotland
Selected Conversations
Dr. Spector has appeared on podcasts and news segments as a guest expert to discuss the cultural history of cocktails and spirits.
Contact
Dr. Spector offers consulting services to publishers, businesses, and private organizations as an independent scholar. Her work remains independent of commercial interests in the areas she studies.
Visit Dr. Spector’s projects at:
