Humanities Endowment Picks Bioethicist to Give Jefferson Lecture

Washington — The National Endowment for the Humanities announced on Monday that it had selected Leon R. Kass, the renowned bioethicist and University of Chicago professor, to deliver the endowment’s Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities in May. The endowment called the invitation “the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.”

A member of the Chicago faculty since 1976, Mr. Kass has spent most of the last decade here in Washington, emerging as a major figure in the ethical debate over embryonic-stem-cell research. From 2001 to 2005 he served as chairman of the President’s Council on Bioethics under George W. Bush, and he is now a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Mr. Kass drew criticism from some academics who believed the bioethics council was used merely to carry out the Bush administration’s ideological agenda. Mr. Kass was vocal in his opposition to cloning human embryos and in removing stem cells for medical research, although he did not share Mr. Bush’s desire to block such research permanently.

Describing himself as a “humanist,” Mr. Kass has said that his objections to the research are based on pragmatic caution, not religion. “The benefits of these technologies are obvious,” he told The Chronicle in 2004. “They’re widely known — better health, longer life, relief of suffering, elimination of disabilities — and none of our reports gainsays those benefits. What’s less obvious are the possible costs of success.”

Besides Chicago, Mr. Kass has also taught at St. John’s College, in Maryland, and at Georgetown University. He has won numerous academic awards and fellowships, and published many books and articles, primarily on bioethics, medicine, science, philosophy, religion and culture, and family life.

His Jefferson Lecture, scheduled for May 21, is entitled “‘Looking for an Honest Man’: Reflections of an Unlicensed Humanist.” —Steve Kolowich