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Human Dignity and Forgotten
Truths By Dave
Andrusko It'll take 45
minutes or so or your time, but between the time
you raise the American flag and begin eating
hotdogs, it'd be well worth the investment. I'm
referring to Leon Kass's "Looking for an Honest
Man: Reflection of an Unlicensed Humanist," the
38th annual Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities
delivered last Thursday. [www.neh.gov/whoweare/Kass/Lecture.html]
The Jefferson Lecture is
sponsored by the National Endowment for the
Humanities. NEH describes it as "the highest
honor the federal government confers for
distinguished intellectual achievement in the
humanities." Most of us
know Dr. Kass primarily for his tenure as
chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics
from 2001-2005. For our purposes, the most
influential report the bioethics council
produced while he was chairman was "Human
Cloning and Human Dignity: An Ethical Inquiry"
(2002). I am by no means
an expert in all things Kass. I'm sure there are
areas where he would agree with us, others where
his approval might be more conditional, and
still others where he might be in disagreement.
I am merely suggesting there is much in the
Jefferson Lecture that will be helpful to us,
particularly his reflections on the meaning of
our humanity and the threat posed to it by
"mechanistic science."
"I have also raised high the
oft-abandoned banner of humanistic inquiry, and
have tried in my teaching and writing to show
its indispensable value for living thoughtfully
and choosing wisely in our hyper-technological
age," he told his audience at the Warner Theatre
in Washington, DC. "In addition, I have been
willing to speak up in defense of our threatened
human dignity, seeking to remind our
contemporaries of forgotten truths that, in a
more sensible age, would have needed no
defense." He has often
written about our collective inability to erect
"any moral barriers to the march toward a Brave
New World." For me, few things have been
more instructive than to watch and listen to the
criticism that comes in waves when people like
Kass invoke what is becoming a forgotten
truth–the reality of human dignity and
maintaining its inviolability.
Have a happy and joyous Memorial
Day. And, if you can, take time to read "Looking
for an Honest Man: Reflection of an Unlicensed
Humanist" [www.neh.gov/whoweare/Kass/Lecture.html]
Please send your thoughts and
comments to
daveandrusko@gmail.com. |
