Books
Review of Fabricated Man by Paul Ramsey
– Theology Today 28:105-107, 1971.Babies By Means of In Vitro Fertilization: Unethical Experiments on the Unborn?
– New England Journal of Medicine 285, January 1, 1971.What Price the Perfect Baby?
– Science 173:103, 1971 (Letter).Excerpt: In defending himself against the charges made by Rudolf Steinberger (Letters, 9 April), Bentley Glass states that he was merely predicting and not advocating that future state… More
Making Babies—The New Biology and the ‘Old’ Morality
– The Public Interest, 26:18-56, Winter 1972.Excerpt: Thoughtful men have long known that the campaign for the technological conquest of nature, conducted under the banner of modem science, would someday train its guns against the… More
Ethical Implications of Pre-Natal Diagnosis for the Human Right to Life
– In B. Hilton et al, eds., Ethical Issues in Human Genetics (New York: Plenum Press, 1973), 185-199.The Ethical Dimensions of in Vitro Fertilization
– American Enterprise Institute Press, 1 January 1979.A Conversation with Dr. Leon Kass: The Ethical Dimensions of in Vitro Fertilization is the edited transcript of a discussion of the ethics and policy issues of research on so-called test… More
Ethical Issues in Human In Vitro Fertilization, Embryo Culture and Research, and Embryo Transfer
– In In Vitro Fertilization, Appendix, Ethics Advisory Board, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, May 4, 1979.“Making Babies” Revisited
– The Public Interest, Number 54:32-60, Winter 1979.Excerpt: Seven years ago in the pages of this journal, in an article entitled “Making Babies-the New Biology and the ‘Old’ Morality” (Number 26, Winter 1972), I explored some of the… More
Ethical Problems of the New Biology
– Review of Life Manipulation: From Test-tube Babies to Aging by David G. Lygre, Chemical & Engineering News, September 15, 1980, 47-48.Aldous Huxley Brave New World (1932)
– First Things, March 2000.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century, successfully waged against totalitarianisms first right and then left, seems to have blinded many people to a… More
Preventing a Brave New World: Why We Should Ban Human Cloning Now
– The New Republic, May 21, 2001.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century, successfully waged against totalitarianisms first right and then left, seems to have blinded many people to a… More
Ban Stand
– With Daniel Callahan, The New Republic, August 6, 2001.Excerpt: Everyone has been arguing for weeks about whether President Bush should authorize funding for research on human embryonic stem cells. But few have noticed the much more momentous… More
Brave New Biology: The Challenge for Human Dignity
– London: The Institute of United States Studies, 2002.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century and the new global struggle against terrorism and fanaticism seems to have blinded many people to a deep truth… More
Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, July 2002.Excerpt: Man’s biotechnological powers are expanding in scope, at what seems an accelerating pace. Many of these powers are double-edged, offering help for human suffering, yet… More
The Meaning of Life in the Laboratory
– Public Interest 146: Winter 2002.Excerpt: The readers of Aldous Huxley’s novel, like the inhabitants of the society it depicts, enter into the Brave New World through “a squat gray building … the Central London… More
Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, October 2003.Excerpt: Biotechnology offers exciting and promising prospects for healing the sick and relieving the suffering. But exactly because of their impressive powers to alter the workings of body… More
Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, March 2004.Excerpt: This report differs from, yet complements, the Council’s work in its previous publications. In Human Cloning and Human Dignity, we addressed the limited topic of human… More
We Don’t Play Politics with Science
– Washington Post, March 3, 2004.Excerpt: Even before the President’s Council on Bioethics had its first meeting in January 2002, charges were flying that the council was stacked with political and religious… More
Reproduction and Responsibility
– Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2004.Excerpt: New biotechnologies are providing new capacities for altering human reproduction, especially with life initiated outside the body. The intersection of assisted reproduction with… More
Interview on Washington Journal
– CSPAN, April 25, 2004.Dr. Kass talked about a report by the President’s Council on Bioethics on reproductive techniques and guidelines for assisted reproductive procedures. He also responded to viewer… More
Human Frailty and Human Dignity
– The New Atlantis (Fall 2004-Winter 2005).Excerpt: In the aftermath of an election season, with the question of stem cell research in the public eye and demagogued in the most awful way, Eric Cohen has chosen to ask more… More
Reflections on Public Bioethics: A View from the Trenches
– Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 15 (3): 221-250, 2005.Abstract: For many reasons, and more than its predecessors, the President’s Council on Bioethics has been the subject of much public attention and heated controversy. But little of… More
Biotechnology & Stem-Cell Research: Interview With Dr. Leon Kass
– Ken Adelman, Washingtonian, November 2005.Excerpt: “Is it all right to kill a creature made in God’s image even before it looks like him?” Leon Kass asks. “It’s the people who think an embryo’s… More
How Brave a New World?
– 2007 Convocation Address, St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland. Reprinted in Society 45 (1): 5-8 (February 2008).Excerpt: Surveying the world you graduates are about to enter, I am reminded of the ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” My own time has been interesting… More
Biotechnology and Our Human Future: Some General Reflections
– In Sean D. Sutton, ed., Biotechnology, Our Future as Human Beings and Citizens, SUNY Series in Philosophy and Biology (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2009), 9-30.The Unique Worth of an Individual Human Life
– The New Atlantis (Spring 2010).Excerpt: The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network selected Leon R. Kass, M.D. to receive its Paul Ramsey Award for 2010 — an award honoring those “who have demonstrated exemplary… More
Essays
Review of Fabricated Man by Paul Ramsey
– Theology Today 28:105-107, 1971.Babies By Means of In Vitro Fertilization: Unethical Experiments on the Unborn?
– New England Journal of Medicine 285, January 1, 1971.What Price the Perfect Baby?
– Science 173:103, 1971 (Letter).Excerpt: In defending himself against the charges made by Rudolf Steinberger (Letters, 9 April), Bentley Glass states that he was merely predicting and not advocating that future state… More
Making Babies—The New Biology and the ‘Old’ Morality
– The Public Interest, 26:18-56, Winter 1972.Excerpt: Thoughtful men have long known that the campaign for the technological conquest of nature, conducted under the banner of modem science, would someday train its guns against the… More
Ethical Implications of Pre-Natal Diagnosis for the Human Right to Life
– In B. Hilton et al, eds., Ethical Issues in Human Genetics (New York: Plenum Press, 1973), 185-199.The Ethical Dimensions of in Vitro Fertilization
– American Enterprise Institute Press, 1 January 1979.A Conversation with Dr. Leon Kass: The Ethical Dimensions of in Vitro Fertilization is the edited transcript of a discussion of the ethics and policy issues of research on so-called test… More
Ethical Issues in Human In Vitro Fertilization, Embryo Culture and Research, and Embryo Transfer
– In In Vitro Fertilization, Appendix, Ethics Advisory Board, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, May 4, 1979.“Making Babies” Revisited
– The Public Interest, Number 54:32-60, Winter 1979.Excerpt: Seven years ago in the pages of this journal, in an article entitled “Making Babies-the New Biology and the ‘Old’ Morality” (Number 26, Winter 1972), I explored some of the… More
Ethical Problems of the New Biology
– Review of Life Manipulation: From Test-tube Babies to Aging by David G. Lygre, Chemical & Engineering News, September 15, 1980, 47-48.Aldous Huxley Brave New World (1932)
– First Things, March 2000.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century, successfully waged against totalitarianisms first right and then left, seems to have blinded many people to a… More
Preventing a Brave New World: Why We Should Ban Human Cloning Now
– The New Republic, May 21, 2001.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century, successfully waged against totalitarianisms first right and then left, seems to have blinded many people to a… More
Ban Stand
– With Daniel Callahan, The New Republic, August 6, 2001.Excerpt: Everyone has been arguing for weeks about whether President Bush should authorize funding for research on human embryonic stem cells. But few have noticed the much more momentous… More
Brave New Biology: The Challenge for Human Dignity
– London: The Institute of United States Studies, 2002.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century and the new global struggle against terrorism and fanaticism seems to have blinded many people to a deep truth… More
Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, July 2002.Excerpt: Man’s biotechnological powers are expanding in scope, at what seems an accelerating pace. Many of these powers are double-edged, offering help for human suffering, yet… More
The Meaning of Life in the Laboratory
– Public Interest 146: Winter 2002.Excerpt: The readers of Aldous Huxley’s novel, like the inhabitants of the society it depicts, enter into the Brave New World through “a squat gray building … the Central London… More
Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, October 2003.Excerpt: Biotechnology offers exciting and promising prospects for healing the sick and relieving the suffering. But exactly because of their impressive powers to alter the workings of body… More
Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, March 2004.Excerpt: This report differs from, yet complements, the Council’s work in its previous publications. In Human Cloning and Human Dignity, we addressed the limited topic of human… More
We Don’t Play Politics with Science
– Washington Post, March 3, 2004.Excerpt: Even before the President’s Council on Bioethics had its first meeting in January 2002, charges were flying that the council was stacked with political and religious… More
Reproduction and Responsibility
– Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2004.Excerpt: New biotechnologies are providing new capacities for altering human reproduction, especially with life initiated outside the body. The intersection of assisted reproduction with… More
Interview on Washington Journal
– CSPAN, April 25, 2004.Dr. Kass talked about a report by the President’s Council on Bioethics on reproductive techniques and guidelines for assisted reproductive procedures. He also responded to viewer… More
Human Frailty and Human Dignity
– The New Atlantis (Fall 2004-Winter 2005).Excerpt: In the aftermath of an election season, with the question of stem cell research in the public eye and demagogued in the most awful way, Eric Cohen has chosen to ask more… More
Reflections on Public Bioethics: A View from the Trenches
– Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 15 (3): 221-250, 2005.Abstract: For many reasons, and more than its predecessors, the President’s Council on Bioethics has been the subject of much public attention and heated controversy. But little of… More
Biotechnology & Stem-Cell Research: Interview With Dr. Leon Kass
– Ken Adelman, Washingtonian, November 2005.Excerpt: “Is it all right to kill a creature made in God’s image even before it looks like him?” Leon Kass asks. “It’s the people who think an embryo’s… More
How Brave a New World?
– 2007 Convocation Address, St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland. Reprinted in Society 45 (1): 5-8 (February 2008).Excerpt: Surveying the world you graduates are about to enter, I am reminded of the ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” My own time has been interesting… More
Biotechnology and Our Human Future: Some General Reflections
– In Sean D. Sutton, ed., Biotechnology, Our Future as Human Beings and Citizens, SUNY Series in Philosophy and Biology (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2009), 9-30.The Unique Worth of an Individual Human Life
– The New Atlantis (Spring 2010).Excerpt: The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network selected Leon R. Kass, M.D. to receive its Paul Ramsey Award for 2010 — an award honoring those “who have demonstrated exemplary… More
Commentary
Review of Fabricated Man by Paul Ramsey
– Theology Today 28:105-107, 1971.Babies By Means of In Vitro Fertilization: Unethical Experiments on the Unborn?
– New England Journal of Medicine 285, January 1, 1971.What Price the Perfect Baby?
– Science 173:103, 1971 (Letter).Excerpt: In defending himself against the charges made by Rudolf Steinberger (Letters, 9 April), Bentley Glass states that he was merely predicting and not advocating that future state… More
Making Babies—The New Biology and the ‘Old’ Morality
– The Public Interest, 26:18-56, Winter 1972.Excerpt: Thoughtful men have long known that the campaign for the technological conquest of nature, conducted under the banner of modem science, would someday train its guns against the… More
Ethical Implications of Pre-Natal Diagnosis for the Human Right to Life
– In B. Hilton et al, eds., Ethical Issues in Human Genetics (New York: Plenum Press, 1973), 185-199.The Ethical Dimensions of in Vitro Fertilization
– American Enterprise Institute Press, 1 January 1979.A Conversation with Dr. Leon Kass: The Ethical Dimensions of in Vitro Fertilization is the edited transcript of a discussion of the ethics and policy issues of research on so-called test… More
Ethical Issues in Human In Vitro Fertilization, Embryo Culture and Research, and Embryo Transfer
– In In Vitro Fertilization, Appendix, Ethics Advisory Board, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, May 4, 1979.“Making Babies” Revisited
– The Public Interest, Number 54:32-60, Winter 1979.Excerpt: Seven years ago in the pages of this journal, in an article entitled “Making Babies-the New Biology and the ‘Old’ Morality” (Number 26, Winter 1972), I explored some of the… More
Ethical Problems of the New Biology
– Review of Life Manipulation: From Test-tube Babies to Aging by David G. Lygre, Chemical & Engineering News, September 15, 1980, 47-48.Aldous Huxley Brave New World (1932)
– First Things, March 2000.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century, successfully waged against totalitarianisms first right and then left, seems to have blinded many people to a… More
Preventing a Brave New World: Why We Should Ban Human Cloning Now
– The New Republic, May 21, 2001.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century, successfully waged against totalitarianisms first right and then left, seems to have blinded many people to a… More
Ban Stand
– With Daniel Callahan, The New Republic, August 6, 2001.Excerpt: Everyone has been arguing for weeks about whether President Bush should authorize funding for research on human embryonic stem cells. But few have noticed the much more momentous… More
Brave New Biology: The Challenge for Human Dignity
– London: The Institute of United States Studies, 2002.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century and the new global struggle against terrorism and fanaticism seems to have blinded many people to a deep truth… More
Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, July 2002.Excerpt: Man’s biotechnological powers are expanding in scope, at what seems an accelerating pace. Many of these powers are double-edged, offering help for human suffering, yet… More
The Meaning of Life in the Laboratory
– Public Interest 146: Winter 2002.Excerpt: The readers of Aldous Huxley’s novel, like the inhabitants of the society it depicts, enter into the Brave New World through “a squat gray building … the Central London… More
Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, October 2003.Excerpt: Biotechnology offers exciting and promising prospects for healing the sick and relieving the suffering. But exactly because of their impressive powers to alter the workings of body… More
Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, March 2004.Excerpt: This report differs from, yet complements, the Council’s work in its previous publications. In Human Cloning and Human Dignity, we addressed the limited topic of human… More
We Don’t Play Politics with Science
– Washington Post, March 3, 2004.Excerpt: Even before the President’s Council on Bioethics had its first meeting in January 2002, charges were flying that the council was stacked with political and religious… More
Reproduction and Responsibility
– Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2004.Excerpt: New biotechnologies are providing new capacities for altering human reproduction, especially with life initiated outside the body. The intersection of assisted reproduction with… More
Interview on Washington Journal
– CSPAN, April 25, 2004.Dr. Kass talked about a report by the President’s Council on Bioethics on reproductive techniques and guidelines for assisted reproductive procedures. He also responded to viewer… More
Human Frailty and Human Dignity
– The New Atlantis (Fall 2004-Winter 2005).Excerpt: In the aftermath of an election season, with the question of stem cell research in the public eye and demagogued in the most awful way, Eric Cohen has chosen to ask more… More
Reflections on Public Bioethics: A View from the Trenches
– Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 15 (3): 221-250, 2005.Abstract: For many reasons, and more than its predecessors, the President’s Council on Bioethics has been the subject of much public attention and heated controversy. But little of… More
Biotechnology & Stem-Cell Research: Interview With Dr. Leon Kass
– Ken Adelman, Washingtonian, November 2005.Excerpt: “Is it all right to kill a creature made in God’s image even before it looks like him?” Leon Kass asks. “It’s the people who think an embryo’s… More
How Brave a New World?
– 2007 Convocation Address, St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland. Reprinted in Society 45 (1): 5-8 (February 2008).Excerpt: Surveying the world you graduates are about to enter, I am reminded of the ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” My own time has been interesting… More
Biotechnology and Our Human Future: Some General Reflections
– In Sean D. Sutton, ed., Biotechnology, Our Future as Human Beings and Citizens, SUNY Series in Philosophy and Biology (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2009), 9-30.The Unique Worth of an Individual Human Life
– The New Atlantis (Spring 2010).Excerpt: The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network selected Leon R. Kass, M.D. to receive its Paul Ramsey Award for 2010 — an award honoring those “who have demonstrated exemplary… More
Multimedia
Review of Fabricated Man by Paul Ramsey
– Theology Today 28:105-107, 1971.Babies By Means of In Vitro Fertilization: Unethical Experiments on the Unborn?
– New England Journal of Medicine 285, January 1, 1971.What Price the Perfect Baby?
– Science 173:103, 1971 (Letter).Excerpt: In defending himself against the charges made by Rudolf Steinberger (Letters, 9 April), Bentley Glass states that he was merely predicting and not advocating that future state… More
Making Babies—The New Biology and the ‘Old’ Morality
– The Public Interest, 26:18-56, Winter 1972.Excerpt: Thoughtful men have long known that the campaign for the technological conquest of nature, conducted under the banner of modem science, would someday train its guns against the… More
Ethical Implications of Pre-Natal Diagnosis for the Human Right to Life
– In B. Hilton et al, eds., Ethical Issues in Human Genetics (New York: Plenum Press, 1973), 185-199.The Ethical Dimensions of in Vitro Fertilization
– American Enterprise Institute Press, 1 January 1979.A Conversation with Dr. Leon Kass: The Ethical Dimensions of in Vitro Fertilization is the edited transcript of a discussion of the ethics and policy issues of research on so-called test… More
Ethical Issues in Human In Vitro Fertilization, Embryo Culture and Research, and Embryo Transfer
– In In Vitro Fertilization, Appendix, Ethics Advisory Board, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, May 4, 1979.“Making Babies” Revisited
– The Public Interest, Number 54:32-60, Winter 1979.Excerpt: Seven years ago in the pages of this journal, in an article entitled “Making Babies-the New Biology and the ‘Old’ Morality” (Number 26, Winter 1972), I explored some of the… More
Ethical Problems of the New Biology
– Review of Life Manipulation: From Test-tube Babies to Aging by David G. Lygre, Chemical & Engineering News, September 15, 1980, 47-48.Aldous Huxley Brave New World (1932)
– First Things, March 2000.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century, successfully waged against totalitarianisms first right and then left, seems to have blinded many people to a… More
Preventing a Brave New World: Why We Should Ban Human Cloning Now
– The New Republic, May 21, 2001.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century, successfully waged against totalitarianisms first right and then left, seems to have blinded many people to a… More
Ban Stand
– With Daniel Callahan, The New Republic, August 6, 2001.Excerpt: Everyone has been arguing for weeks about whether President Bush should authorize funding for research on human embryonic stem cells. But few have noticed the much more momentous… More
Brave New Biology: The Challenge for Human Dignity
– London: The Institute of United States Studies, 2002.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century and the new global struggle against terrorism and fanaticism seems to have blinded many people to a deep truth… More
Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, July 2002.Excerpt: Man’s biotechnological powers are expanding in scope, at what seems an accelerating pace. Many of these powers are double-edged, offering help for human suffering, yet… More
The Meaning of Life in the Laboratory
– Public Interest 146: Winter 2002.Excerpt: The readers of Aldous Huxley’s novel, like the inhabitants of the society it depicts, enter into the Brave New World through “a squat gray building … the Central London… More
Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, October 2003.Excerpt: Biotechnology offers exciting and promising prospects for healing the sick and relieving the suffering. But exactly because of their impressive powers to alter the workings of body… More
Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, March 2004.Excerpt: This report differs from, yet complements, the Council’s work in its previous publications. In Human Cloning and Human Dignity, we addressed the limited topic of human… More
We Don’t Play Politics with Science
– Washington Post, March 3, 2004.Excerpt: Even before the President’s Council on Bioethics had its first meeting in January 2002, charges were flying that the council was stacked with political and religious… More
Reproduction and Responsibility
– Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2004.Excerpt: New biotechnologies are providing new capacities for altering human reproduction, especially with life initiated outside the body. The intersection of assisted reproduction with… More
Interview on Washington Journal
– CSPAN, April 25, 2004.Dr. Kass talked about a report by the President’s Council on Bioethics on reproductive techniques and guidelines for assisted reproductive procedures. He also responded to viewer… More
Human Frailty and Human Dignity
– The New Atlantis (Fall 2004-Winter 2005).Excerpt: In the aftermath of an election season, with the question of stem cell research in the public eye and demagogued in the most awful way, Eric Cohen has chosen to ask more… More
Reflections on Public Bioethics: A View from the Trenches
– Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 15 (3): 221-250, 2005.Abstract: For many reasons, and more than its predecessors, the President’s Council on Bioethics has been the subject of much public attention and heated controversy. But little of… More
Biotechnology & Stem-Cell Research: Interview With Dr. Leon Kass
– Ken Adelman, Washingtonian, November 2005.Excerpt: “Is it all right to kill a creature made in God’s image even before it looks like him?” Leon Kass asks. “It’s the people who think an embryo’s… More
How Brave a New World?
– 2007 Convocation Address, St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland. Reprinted in Society 45 (1): 5-8 (February 2008).Excerpt: Surveying the world you graduates are about to enter, I am reminded of the ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” My own time has been interesting… More
Biotechnology and Our Human Future: Some General Reflections
– In Sean D. Sutton, ed., Biotechnology, Our Future as Human Beings and Citizens, SUNY Series in Philosophy and Biology (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2009), 9-30.The Unique Worth of an Individual Human Life
– The New Atlantis (Spring 2010).Excerpt: The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network selected Leon R. Kass, M.D. to receive its Paul Ramsey Award for 2010 — an award honoring those “who have demonstrated exemplary… More
Teaching
Review of Fabricated Man by Paul Ramsey
– Theology Today 28:105-107, 1971.Babies By Means of In Vitro Fertilization: Unethical Experiments on the Unborn?
– New England Journal of Medicine 285, January 1, 1971.What Price the Perfect Baby?
– Science 173:103, 1971 (Letter).Excerpt: In defending himself against the charges made by Rudolf Steinberger (Letters, 9 April), Bentley Glass states that he was merely predicting and not advocating that future state… More
Making Babies—The New Biology and the ‘Old’ Morality
– The Public Interest, 26:18-56, Winter 1972.Excerpt: Thoughtful men have long known that the campaign for the technological conquest of nature, conducted under the banner of modem science, would someday train its guns against the… More
Ethical Implications of Pre-Natal Diagnosis for the Human Right to Life
– In B. Hilton et al, eds., Ethical Issues in Human Genetics (New York: Plenum Press, 1973), 185-199.The Ethical Dimensions of in Vitro Fertilization
– American Enterprise Institute Press, 1 January 1979.A Conversation with Dr. Leon Kass: The Ethical Dimensions of in Vitro Fertilization is the edited transcript of a discussion of the ethics and policy issues of research on so-called test… More
Ethical Issues in Human In Vitro Fertilization, Embryo Culture and Research, and Embryo Transfer
– In In Vitro Fertilization, Appendix, Ethics Advisory Board, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, May 4, 1979.“Making Babies” Revisited
– The Public Interest, Number 54:32-60, Winter 1979.Excerpt: Seven years ago in the pages of this journal, in an article entitled “Making Babies-the New Biology and the ‘Old’ Morality” (Number 26, Winter 1972), I explored some of the… More
Ethical Problems of the New Biology
– Review of Life Manipulation: From Test-tube Babies to Aging by David G. Lygre, Chemical & Engineering News, September 15, 1980, 47-48.Aldous Huxley Brave New World (1932)
– First Things, March 2000.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century, successfully waged against totalitarianisms first right and then left, seems to have blinded many people to a… More
Preventing a Brave New World: Why We Should Ban Human Cloning Now
– The New Republic, May 21, 2001.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century, successfully waged against totalitarianisms first right and then left, seems to have blinded many people to a… More
Ban Stand
– With Daniel Callahan, The New Republic, August 6, 2001.Excerpt: Everyone has been arguing for weeks about whether President Bush should authorize funding for research on human embryonic stem cells. But few have noticed the much more momentous… More
Brave New Biology: The Challenge for Human Dignity
– London: The Institute of United States Studies, 2002.Excerpt: The urgency of the great political struggles of the twentieth century and the new global struggle against terrorism and fanaticism seems to have blinded many people to a deep truth… More
Human Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, July 2002.Excerpt: Man’s biotechnological powers are expanding in scope, at what seems an accelerating pace. Many of these powers are double-edged, offering help for human suffering, yet… More
The Meaning of Life in the Laboratory
– Public Interest 146: Winter 2002.Excerpt: The readers of Aldous Huxley’s novel, like the inhabitants of the society it depicts, enter into the Brave New World through “a squat gray building … the Central London… More
Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, October 2003.Excerpt: Biotechnology offers exciting and promising prospects for healing the sick and relieving the suffering. But exactly because of their impressive powers to alter the workings of body… More
Reproduction and Responsibility: The Regulation of New Biotechnologies
– The President's Council on Bioethics, Washington, DC, March 2004.Excerpt: This report differs from, yet complements, the Council’s work in its previous publications. In Human Cloning and Human Dignity, we addressed the limited topic of human… More
We Don’t Play Politics with Science
– Washington Post, March 3, 2004.Excerpt: Even before the President’s Council on Bioethics had its first meeting in January 2002, charges were flying that the council was stacked with political and religious… More
Reproduction and Responsibility
– Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2004.Excerpt: New biotechnologies are providing new capacities for altering human reproduction, especially with life initiated outside the body. The intersection of assisted reproduction with… More
Interview on Washington Journal
– CSPAN, April 25, 2004.Dr. Kass talked about a report by the President’s Council on Bioethics on reproductive techniques and guidelines for assisted reproductive procedures. He also responded to viewer… More
Human Frailty and Human Dignity
– The New Atlantis (Fall 2004-Winter 2005).Excerpt: In the aftermath of an election season, with the question of stem cell research in the public eye and demagogued in the most awful way, Eric Cohen has chosen to ask more… More
Reflections on Public Bioethics: A View from the Trenches
– Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 15 (3): 221-250, 2005.Abstract: For many reasons, and more than its predecessors, the President’s Council on Bioethics has been the subject of much public attention and heated controversy. But little of… More
Biotechnology & Stem-Cell Research: Interview With Dr. Leon Kass
– Ken Adelman, Washingtonian, November 2005.Excerpt: “Is it all right to kill a creature made in God’s image even before it looks like him?” Leon Kass asks. “It’s the people who think an embryo’s… More
How Brave a New World?
– 2007 Convocation Address, St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland. Reprinted in Society 45 (1): 5-8 (February 2008).Excerpt: Surveying the world you graduates are about to enter, I am reminded of the ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.” My own time has been interesting… More
Biotechnology and Our Human Future: Some General Reflections
– In Sean D. Sutton, ed., Biotechnology, Our Future as Human Beings and Citizens, SUNY Series in Philosophy and Biology (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2009), 9-30.The Unique Worth of an Individual Human Life
– The New Atlantis (Spring 2010).Excerpt: The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network selected Leon R. Kass, M.D. to receive its Paul Ramsey Award for 2010 — an award honoring those “who have demonstrated exemplary… More