Leon Kass

word comes from the Latin root words, “re”, meaning back and “pugnare” to fight. When we use the word repugnance, we do not just mean the feeling of fighting back or resisting, but also a feeling of horror or sickness that causes you to resist in the first place. In the article “The Wisdom Of Repugnance” , Leon R. Kass illustrates that human beings should take a closer look at the greater implications of cloning and not just to do it because we can. Liberals, on the other hand, believe that, “cloning human beings will be an extension of existing techniques for assisting reproduction and determining the genetic makeup of children.” Kass implies, that each of us must find the meaning in why we should not interfere with the divine order that governed creation, by imposing or trying to create something or someone in the likeness of yourself or someone else. For example, “Dolly [the sheep] was, quite literally, made. She is the work not of nature or nature’s God, but of man … What is more, Dolly came into being not only asexually- ironically, just like he [who] calls himself a Lamb, but also as the genetically identical copy (and the perfect incarnation of the form or blueprint)” (Kass 17). We ought to do things the way God intends it. Cloning human beings disrupt the natural flow of God’s will for man, because it was not intended for man to make man in his image. “Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, the study…

of spiritual poverty often lacks appearance in the conversation. This lack of discussion on poverty of the mind when combatting physical poverty in the country is a notable topic to consider when measuring progress in the United States. In an article entitled “The Other War on Poverty,” Leon R. Kass discusses his views on the state of America and the campaign against spiritual poverty in its culture. He writes that life in America can easily be seen as “spiritually more impoverished than ever”…

I knew everything about them and I our lives were relatively similar. My Stanford friends were similar to me in the way that they valued education, enjoyed playing sports, and loved a quality game of Mafia. They, however, lived around the world and had varying opinions, perspectives, and values. Leon Kass believed “difference in opinion may be the beginning of thoughtfulness (Kass 93).” I believe my new friends’ differences in opinion revealed not only opportunities and ideas to process, but…

Scientist Leon Kass is another doomsayer to the transhumanist movement, and he believes that our human nature is the way it is for a reason, and there is not a reason to tamper with it as it may detract from our humanity. In addition, political scientist Francis Fukuyama claims that there is a “dignity…unique to human beings,” that might be lost in a transition from our purely biological existence (Bostrom; Downes and Machery, 578). However, history is full of naysayers whose woes and sentiments…

In “Wisdom of Repugnance” in his book “Ethics of Human Cloning” Leon Kass blames the willingness of people to entertain and use alternative forms of human reproduction on the media and being “softened up” Kass contends that it is procedure like test tube babies, surrogacy and invitro-fertilization that has opened the door to the possibility of cloning. He believes that these changes threaten to change the connections within the family dynamic because cloning allows the people to reproduce…

Leon Kass, a public intellectual, and a scientist suggests that Brave New World by Aldous Huxley gives an accurate vision of the future of society in general which is leaning towards a utopian course. All societies no matter what overall condition are leading towards a utopian society due to the “procession in modern medicine”, and while the advancement of medicine has helped in the battle against “disease, decay, and death” these advancements in technology are now starting to be used to alter…

The Professional, a film directed by Luc Besson, is about a cold-hearted and unsympathetic professional assassin named Leon. He kills for a living, and has been successfully executing targets for a very long time. However, when he isn’t taking down targets, he stays in a compact apartment in solitude doing his daily routine which includes cleaning, watering his plant that he cares a lot about, and sleeping on a chair with one eye open. The movie not show much about Leon’s past life but he is an…

The Persecution of Religion in Stalinist Russia Throughout history, religion has played an important role in shaping culture, government and the economy, but it is important to also consider times when the absence of religion has done the same. Under the control of Joseph Stalin and the Communist party in the early 1920s, Russia became the first nation to institutionalize atheism. Propelled by the ideals of communism and the example of his predecessor, Stalin sought to secularize the nation and…

between an individual 's behavior and a group 's standards or expectations. This behavior in accordance with socially accepted conventions or standards. “Loyalty to one 's party everyone is matching wearing the same thing. Compliance refers to the act of changing one’s behavior in response to a direct request. These are act or process of complying with a desire, demand, or proposal. Thanksgiving is nearby please feed the poor and give charity. Obedience is a special type of compliance that…

philosophical direction. Moses “the raven” represented the Russian Orthodox Church. He flew around talking about a place called Candy land where animals were treated right and fed well. The church promised the working peasants a utopian afterlife in haven. The animal original vision of the society had noble ideals. Orwell was socialist, so he did support the creation of a government with social equality. Russian Revolutionist began with the same concepts; Karl Marx explained these notions in his…