The Ethics of Human Cloning

by Leon R. Kass, James Q. Wilson

Today biological science is rising on a wall of worry. No other science has advanced more dramatically during the past several decades or yielded so many palpable improvements in human welfare. Yet, none except nuclear physics has aroused greater apprehensions among the general public and leaders in such diverse fields as religion, the humanities, and government.

In this engaging book, Leon R. Kass, the noted teacher, scientist, humanist, and chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, and James Q. Wilson, the preeminent political scientist to whom four United States presidents have turned for advice on crime, drug abuse, education, and other crises in American life, explore the ethics of human cloning, reproductive technology, and the teleology of human sexuality.

Although in their lively dialgoue both authors share a fundamental distrust of the notion of human cloning, they base their resistance on different views of the role of sexual reproduction and the role of the family. Professor Kass contends that in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproudction technologies that place the origin of human life in human hands have eroded the respect for the mystery of sexuality and human renewal. Professor Wilson, in contrast, asserts that whether a human life is created naturally or artificially is immaterial as long as the child is raised by loving parents in a two-parent family and is not harmed by the means of its conception.

This accessible volume promises to inform the public policy debate over the permissible conduct of genetic research and the permissible uses of its discoveries.

Genres: Philosophy

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

American physician, scientist, educator, and public intellectual, best known as proponent of liberal education via the "Great Books," as an opponent of human cloning, life extension and euthanasia, as a critic of certain areas of technological progress and embryo research, and for his controversial tenure as chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics from 2001 to 2005. Although Kass is often referred to as a bioethicist, he eschews the term and refers to himself as "an old-fashioned humanist.

Reviews

[Drew Tschirki · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a peculiar book. It is comprised of two essays by two scholars and their rebuttals of the others essay. They are both against human cloning but for different moral reasons and to different extents. I would have hoped to hear a pro-cloning scholar’s argument instead of just what these two claim as the reasons for human cloning. As far as cloning goes, essentially one takes an egg and replaces the nucleus with a nucleus from a cell of the same person so that the exact same genetic code is recreated. They explained this is essentially what they did for Dolly the sheep, and that the success rate was 1-277. Human cloning is probably more difficult than sheep cloning as far as we would have to find women that desire to be cloned and potentially carry the child of their own self.

The first author argues that the act of sex is fundamentally an act of creation and admitting our own mortality, hence the physical need to reproduce. He claims in his “wisdom of repugnance” that while it is difficult to explain why cloning is wrong, most people accept cloning as morally wrong in the same sense that incest and rape are wrong and tamper with sexual power. If something is traditionally considered morally wrong it probably is, is his argument. Curiously, this author believes that artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization are also wrong and are on the “slippery slope” to eventual human cloning.

He argues that a human’s genetic makeup is comprised of both the father’s and mother’s genes, and merely cloning one person’s genes is the degradation of humanity. It is an ethical problem that entirely disregards individuality. It raises the question of whether a clone is truly an individual or merely an extension of life of the clonee. Does the individual live on genetically through the clone? What if the clone desires sexual relation with the clonee’s partner or even the clonee? He raises many such questions and argues for political leaders to ban human cloning fully and completely so as to not even set humanity down this de-humanizing road.

The second author argues that marital relation, not sexual relations, is what is the point of concern when it comes to cloning. He argues that conceiving a child through normal means, as well as artificial insemination and IVF are all morally acceptable as long as both partner’s are on board. He argues that if two people are attempting to have a child then God expects them to do whatever they can and his power isn’t withheld in the laboratory. He argues fundamentally that cloning is wrong, though in the instance of infertility and no other viable measures it could potentially be used to create life. He argues that it shouldn’t be banned unless there was no way to ensure the integrity of the life of the clone nor the limits to what a clone could be created for. For example, if we were to use clones for organ harvesting or experiments then he suggests banning the practice altogether. However, he is also of the opinion that the research of cloning is an extension of the research of the human genome and through this research our science has progressed significantly and there have been many benefits this research has brought about.

[Ronaldo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book. Both authors argue against human cloning, but as Dr. Kass states in the book: "One way to put that difference is to claim, ..., that Professor Wilson thinks that the issue is marriage and family whereas I think that the issue is sex."

Another favorite quote from Dr. Leon R. Kass is: "when we are sexually active we are voting with our genitalia for our own demise."

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in the Raleigh library not long after it came out. That would make it some time in 2001. I found the arguments, particularly Dr. Kass's were incredibly weak and lacked any sort of logical framework. The "Wisdom of Moral Repugnance" argument lingers with me even 10 years later. The argument is basically, "I think it is gross, so it must be amoral." Big surprise then that he was an ethics advisor to President Bush, for whom such would pass for rhetoric. Ultimately neither author conjures up a logically consistent ethical argument against human cloning. There are of course practical arguments that could be made, but those arguments would disappear if the technology were more advanced. Ultimately, I think the argument must be made that if there is someone willing to give birth to a clone, then it is morally acceptable, which makes it no different than other reproductive technologies.

[A.J. Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very important book. Dr Kass is one of the brightest thinkers of our time....a very wise man.