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SCHOLARS &
FELLOWS
Leon R. Kass
Madden-Jewett Chair
RESOURCES
RESEARCH AREAS
- Bioethics
- Ethics
- Philosophy
- Marriage, family, and social mores
Contact
E-mail: lkass@aei.org
Phone: 202-862-7156
Fax: 202-862-7178
Assistant: Keriann Hopkins
Assistant E-mail: keriann.hopkins@aei.org
Assistant Phone: 202-862-5897
Biography
Leon R. Kass, M.D., is the Addie Clark Harding Professor in the Committee on Social Thought and the College at the University of Chicago. He was the chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics from 2001 to 2005. He has been engaged for more than thirty years with ethical and philosophical issues raised by biomedical advance, and, more recently, with broader moral and cultural issues. His widely reprinted essays in biomedical ethics range from in vitro fertilization, cloning, genetic screening, and organ transplantation to aging research, euthanasia, and steroid use in sports.
Experience
- Member, 2005-2007; Chairman, 2002-2005, President's Council on Bioethics
- Senior Fellow, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, University of Chicago, 1991-2001
- Senior Fellow and Associate Director, John M. Olin Center for Inquiry into the Theory and Practice of Democracy, University of Chicago, 1986-2001
- Professor, The College and the Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago, 1976-2001
- W. H. Brady Jr. Distinguished Fellow, AEI, 1991-92, 1998-99
- Member, Vice-Chairman, and Committee Chairman, National Council on the Humanities/National Endowment for the Humanities, 1984-91
- Research Professor in Bioethics, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, 1974-76
- Tutor, St. John's College, 1972-76
- Executive Secretary, Committee on the Life Sciences and Social Policy, National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, 1970-72
- Staff Fellow, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 1967-70
- Surgeon, U.S. Public Health Service, 1967-69
- Intern, Beth Israel Hospital, 1962-63
Education
Ph.D, biochemistry, Harvard University M.D., honors; B.S., biology, honors, University of Chicago
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American identity, character, and civic life are shaped by many things, but decisive among them are our national memories—of our long history, our triumphs and tragedies, our national aspirations and achievements. Crucial to the national memory are the words our forebears wrote, to show us who we are and what we might yet become.
The deepest questions of life are illuminated not by mechanistic and materialist explanations but through humane studies in the great philosophical tradition of the West.
Leon R. Kass, M.D., of AEI and the University of Chicago delivered the fifth of the 2008-2009 Bradley Lectures on January 12, 2009.
A critical look at Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, the Mitchell Report, and the adulteration of American sports.
President Bush supports funding possibilities in medical research butthinks Congress shouldpass legislation againsthuman cloning.
Washington University School of Medicine
February 7, 2008
Thanks to medicine's prowess in sustaining life on the edge, it is harder than ever to know when it is "time to die."
Medically and ethically, reprogramming of human somatic cellsto pluripotency is anenormously significant achievement.
Biomedical science and technology pose contemporary challenges to our human dignity.
A short responseto several interpretations of Kass's beliefs on the relationship between modern science and biblical religion.
Thomas Hobbes' understanding of individual natural rights offers a firm rationale for the dignity of human life.
Science offers truth about the way the world works, but religion offers truths about who we are and why we are. Science and religion, therefore, need not be enemies.
The fullest dignity of the godlike animal is realized in its acknowledgment and celebration of the divine.
Issues surrounding death and dying have reentered the Supreme Court--and our personal lives.
Although we are living healthier longer, many of us are also living long enough to suffer serious age-related chronic illnesses, including dementia.
Washington Post
July 12, 2005
Senators will be given a chance this week toincrease funding for alternative sources. They should not miss thispromising opportunity for scientific and ethical statesmanship.
The New Atlantis
January 27, 2005
Given the alliance between humanitarian science and needy society, the problems we face require appealing to a sense of human dignity tied to our strengths as god-like beings.
Skeptical Inquirer
January 1, 2005
An embryo, animal as well as human, possesses indwelling powers of organic and integrated self-development and ontogensis worthy of respect.
Washington Post
October 8, 2004
Wise policy on embryonic stem cell research must seek scientific knowledge and cures for terrible diseases, protect human life in all its vulnerable stages, and respect diverse moral views.
Wall Street Journal
April 1, 2004
Our ethical reflections and regulatory institutions have lagged behind our rapid technological advance.
Washington Post
March 3, 2004
Charges that the President's Council on Bioethics is stacked with political and religious conservatives aremalicious and false.
Washington Post Outlook
February 1, 2004
We are well on our way to gaining greater biotechnical power to reengineer the human body and mind, all in the service of "superior performance." What kind of society might we become?
Washington Post
October 16, 2003
Although most biomedical technologies are developed for therapeutic purposes, once here they are quickly available to serve many other ends, good ones and bad.
A flourishing human life is not a life lived with an ageless body or untroubled soul, but rather a life lived in rhythmed time, mindful of time’s limits andappreciative of each season.
If Congress fails again to act this time around, human cloning will happen here, and we will have acquiesced in its arrival. It is my profound hope that Congress will rise to the occasion, and strike a blow in defense of human dignity.
Opposition to human cloning-to-produce children in America is overwhelming: the vast majority of our fellow citizens, including most scientists, would like to see it banned.
New York Times
January 24, 2003
Leon R. Kass warns of the danger of cloning.
Public Interest
January 1, 2003
Public Interest
January 1, 2003
Essays adapted from remarks made at theAEI's book forum "Human Cloning and Human Dignity" onOctober 29, 2002.
American Spectator
November 12, 2002
While various people are talking about tracking down "dead-beat dads" or reestablishing orphanages or doing something to slow the rate of divorce--all remedies for marital failure--very little attention is being paid to what makes for marital success.
The Wall Street Journal
July 11, 2002
Regarding cloning-to-produce-children, the nation, Congress and our council are nearly unanimous: This practice should be opposed, morally and legally.
Public Interest
January 1, 2002
The Public Interest
January 1, 2002
Reaffirming the principle that nascent life not be destroyed for the sake of research,Bush chose to permit federal funds to be used for research only on already existing embryonic stem cell lines.
Los Angeles Times
February 20, 2000
New York Times
August 23, 1998
Review of Brave New Worlds: Staying Human in the Genetic Future by Bryan Appleyard.
New Republic
June 2, 1997
AEI Bradley Lecture Series
March 14, 1994
This Bradley Lecture questions what our moral obligations are to those who choose to live dangerously or foolishly in their personal lives.
First Things
November 1, 1991
[READ MORE]
Books
What So Proudly We Hail
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
May 15, 2011
This anthology uses the soul-shaping power of story, speech, and song to help Americans appreciate more fully who they are as citizens of the United States.
Reproduction and Responsibility
DIANE Publishing Company
July 1, 2004
The Beginning of Wisdom
Unlike the many devout readers who approach the Bible to find salvation,the authorcomes to Genesis in pursuit of philosophical wisdom.
Life, Liberty, and the Defense of Dignity
Encounter Books
January 1, 2002
We are walking too quickly down the road to physical and psychological utopia without pausing to assess the potential damage to our humanity from this brave new biology.
Wing to Wing, Oar to Oar
University of Notre Dame Press
January 1, 2000
This book is an anthology of source readings offered as a response to the contemporary cultural silence surrounding love that leads to marriage.
The Ethics of Human Cloning
This accessible volume promises to inform the public policy debate over the permissible conduct of genetic research and the permissible uses of its discoveries.
The Hungry Soul
Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
June 1, 1994
This inquiry views eating among humans as a manifestation of the "hungry soul'' that seeks satisfaction in activities motivated by ambition, curiosity, affection and awe.
Toward a More Natural Science
Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
October 1, 1990
The promise and the peril of our are inextricably linked with the promise and the peril of modern science.
A Conversation with Dr. Leon Kass
AEI Press
January 1, 1979
This volume is the edited transcript of a discussion of the ethics and policy issues of research on so-called test tube babies.
[READ MORE]
Speeches and Testimony
"Looking for an Honest Man"
The deepest questions of life are illuminated not by mechanistic and materialist explanations but through humane studies in the great philosophical tradition of the West.
Principles for Neighbors: The "Second Table" of the Decalogue
Leon R. Kass, M.D., of AEI and the University of Chicago delivered the fifth of the 2008-2009 Bradley Lectures on January 12, 2009.
Taking Care: Ethical Caregiving in Our Aging Society
Washington University School of Medicine
February 7, 2008
Thanks to medicine's prowess in sustaining life on the edge, it is harder than ever to know when it is "time to die."
Keeping Life Human
Biomedical science and technology pose contemporary challenges to our human dignity.
Defending Human Dignity
The fullest dignity of the godlike animal is realized in its acknowledgment and celebration of the divine.
Promoting Ethical Regenerative Medicine Research and Prohibiting Immoral Human Reproductive Cloning
If Congress fails again to act this time around, human cloning will happen here, and we will have acquiesced in its arrival. It is my profound hope that Congress will rise to the occasion, and strike a blow in defense of human dignity.
The Ethics of Human Cloning
Opposition to human cloning-to-produce children in America is overwhelming: the vast majority of our fellow citizens, including most scientists, would like to see it banned.
Living Dangerously
AEI Bradley Lecture Series
March 14, 1994
This Bradley Lecture questions what our moral obligations are to those who choose to live dangerously or foolishly in their personal lives.
[READ MORE]
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