Leon Kass

In January 2002, Leon Richard Kass, a bioethicist at the University of Chicago, was selected by President George W. Bush to head the 18-member President's Council on Bioethics.

"Leon Kass is a physician and philosopher with a decidedly anti-modernist bent. A disciple of University of Chicago anti-modernist philosopher Leo Strauss, Kass has long believed that the Enlightenment was something of a mistake. In his view, its focus on individual rights and individual conscience undermines the traditional bases for morality.

"With regard to embryonic stem cells and cloning, both therapeutic and reproductive, Kass has made it very clear that he finds the prospect 'repugnant' and has testified before congressional committees that he favors criminalizing all human cloning research."