Kass - Keeping Life Human Science, Religion, And the Soul

7/25/2019 Kass - Keeping Life Human Science, Religion, And the Soul

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Keeping Life Human: Science, Religion, and the Soul

Leon R. Kass, M.D.

Two old-timers, Max and Jae, spend e!er" hour of their retirement imagining and de#ating

what life is lie in the world-to-come$ %ager for the answer, the" mae a pledge that

whoe!er goes first will somehow find a wa" &uicl" to communicate the news to his

sur!i!ing friend$ 'fter se!eral "ears of such de#ates, Max dies, and Jae promptl" taes up

his post next to the phone$ ' da" passes, a wee, a month, six months(no Max$ )ut *ust as

Jae is #eginning to despair(+perhaps there is no world-to-come+(the phone rings:

+Hello, Jae t.s Max/+

+Max, where in hell ha!e "ou #een .!e #een worried sic$+

+.m reall" sorr", Jae, #ut had a de!il of a time getting to a phone$+

+0ell, ne!er mind, Max, tell me, what.s it reall" lie+

+So .ll tell "a.$ 1irst of all, get a good night.s sleep(22, 23 hours$ get up at sunrise,

stretch a little, perform m" a#lutions, tae a wal, eat a good #reafast$ 'fter #reafast,

relax a #it, tae a constitutional, admire the scener"(#efore "ou now it, it.s time for

lunch$ Lunch is delicious, and !er" filling, so after lunch tae a little nap$ get up

refreshed, wander down to the lae for a little dip, ha!e a little sex, and(#efore "ou

now it(it.s time for supper$ ha!e a little supper, tae a little stroll, en*o" the sunset, and

then sleep twel!e hours$+

+Max, Max, it sounds lie Miami$ t sure don.t sound lie hea!en$+

+Heaven?Jae, who said hea!en .m in Montana$ .m a #uffalo$+

Keeping life human these da"s is no laughing matter$ 'mong the contemporar" challenges

to our humanit", the deepest ones come from a most unliel" &uarter: our wonderful and

humane #iomedical science and technolog"$ The powers the" are pro!iding for altering the

worings of our #odies and minds are alread" #eing used for purposes #e"ond therap", and

ma" soon #e used to transform human nature itself$ n our lifetime, the natural relations

#etween sex and procreation, personal identit" and em#odiment, and human agenc" and

human achie!ement ha!e all #een profoundl" altered #" new #iomedical technologies$ The

4ill$ n !itro fertili5ation$ Surrogate wom#s$ 6loning$ 7enetic engineering$ 8rgan

swapping$ Mechanical spare parts$ 4erformance-enhancing drugs$ 6omputer implants into


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#rains$ Ritalin for the "oung, 9iagra for the old, 4ro5ac for e!er"one$ 9irtuall" unnoticed,

the train to Huxle".s dehumani5ed )ra!e ew 0orld has alread" left the station$

)ut #eneath the weight" ethical concerns raised #" these new #iotechnologies(a su#*ect

for a different lecture(lies a deeper philosophical challenge: one that threatens how we

thin a#out who and what we are$ Scientific ideas and disco!eries a#out li!ing nature and

man, perfectl" welcome and harmless in themsel!es, are #eing enlisted to do #attle against

our traditional religious and moral teachings, and e!en our self-understanding as creatures

with freedom and dignit"$ ' &uasi-religious faith has sprung up among us(let me call it

+soul-less scientism+(which #elie!es that our new #iolog", eliminating all m"ster", can

gi!e a complete account of human life, gi!ing purel" scientific explanations of human

thought, lo!e, creati!it", moral *udgment, and e!en wh" we #elie!e in 7od$ The threat to

our humanit" toda" comes not from the transmigration of souls in the next life, #ut from the

denial of soul in this one, not from turning men into #uffaloes, #ut from den"ing that there

is an" real difference #etween them$

Mae no mistae$ The staes in this contest are high: at issue are the moral and spiritual

health of our nation, the continued !italit" of science, and our own self-understanding as

human #eings and as children of the 0est$ 'll friends of human freedom and dignit"(

including e!en the atheists among us(must understand that their own humanit" is on the

line$

Tonight wish to offer an o!er!iew of the danger and to suggest how it can #e countered:

will first descri#e the threats scientism poses #oth to human self-understanding and to

ethics$ will then identif" philosophical and religious resources a!aila#le for meeting thechallenge$

0e need first to distinguish the grandiose faith of contemporar" scientism from modern

science as such, which #egan as a more modest !enture$ 'lthough the founders of modern

science sought certain and useful nowledge, to #e gained using new concepts and

methods, the" understood that science would ne!er offer complete and a#solute nowledge

of the whole of human life(for example, of thought, feeling, moralit", or faith$ 1or the"

understood, as we tend to forget, that the rationalit" of science is #ut a partial and highl"

speciali5ed rationalit", concocted for the purpose of gaining onl" that ind of nowledge

for which it was de!ised, and applica#le to onl" those aspects of the world that can #ecaptured #" such a#stract notions$ The peculiar reason of science is not, nor was meant to

#e, the natural reason of e!er"da" life and human experience$ either is it the reason of

philosoph" or religious thought$

Thus, science does not see to now beingsor their natures, #ut onl" the regularities of the

changesthat the" undergo$ Science sees to now onl" howthings wor, not whatthings


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areand why$ Science gi!es the historiesof things, #ut not their directions, aspirations, or

purposes$ Science &uantifies selected externalrelations of one o#*ect to another, #ut it can

sa" nothing at all a#out their innerstates of #eing, not onl" for human #eings #ut for an"

li!ing creature$ Science can often predict what will happen if certain pertur#ations occur,

#ut it eschews explanations in terms of causes, especiall" of ultimatecauses$

n a word, our remara#le science of nature has made enormous progress precisel" #" its

decision to ignore the larger perennial &uestions a#out #eing, cause, purpose, inwardness,

hierarch", and the goodness or #adness of things(&uestions that science happil" ga!e o!er

to philosoph", poetr", and religion$

Thus, in cosmolog", for example, we ha!e wonderful progress in characteri5ing the

temporal #eginnings as a +#ig #ang+ and ela#orate calculations to descri#e what happened

next$ )ut science preser!es complete silence regarding the status &uo ante and the ultimate

cause$ ;nlie a normall" curious child, cosmologists do not as, +0hat was beforethe #ig

#ang+ or +0h" is there something rather than nothing+ #ecause the answer must #e an

exasperated +7od onl" nows/+

n genetics, we ha!e the complete


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directl" #" the hand of 7od, claim to #e a higheranimal, ne!er mind a godlie one ndeed,

orthodox e!olutionar" theor" e!en denies that animals should #e called +higher+ or +lower,+rather than *ust more or less complex: since all animals are finall" in the same #usiness-

indi!idual sur!i!al, for the sae of perpetuating their genes-the apparent differences among

them are, at #ottom, merel" more or less complicated wa"s of getting the same *o# done$

The new materialistic explanations of !ital, e!en ps"chic, e!ents lea!e no room for soul,understood as life.s animating principle$ 7enes are said to determine temperament and

character$ Mechanistic accounts of #rain functions seem to do awa" with the need to spea

of human freedom and purposi!eness$ )rain imaging studies claim to explain how we mae

moral *udgments$ ' full" exterior account of our #eha!ior(the grail of neuroscience(diminishes the significance of our felt inwardness$ 1eeling, passion, awareness,

imagination, desire, lo!e, hate, and thought are, scientificall" speaing, merel" +#rain

e!ents$+ There are e!en reports of a +7od module+ in the #rain, whose acti!it" is thought toexplain religious or m"stical experiences$

e!er mind +created in the image of 7od+: what ele!ated humanistic !iew of human life orhuman goodness is defensi#le against the #elief, trumpeted #" #iolog".s most pu#lic and

prophetic !oices, that man is *ust a collection of molecules, an accident on the stage ofe!olution, a freaish spec of mind in a mindless uni!erse, fundamentall" no different from

other li!ing things 0hat chance ha!e our treasured ideas of freedom and dignit" against

the reducti!e notion of +the selfish gene,+ or the #elief that


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own included$ The" fail to see that the scientific !iew of man the" cele#rate does more than

insult our !anit"$ t undermines our self-conception as free, thoughtful, and responsi#le#eings, worth" of respect #ecause we alone among the animals ha!e minds and hearts that

aim far higher than the mere perpetuation of our genes$

he pro#lem, to repeat, lies not so much with the scientific findings themsel!es #ut with theshallow philosoph" that recogni5es no truths #ut these$ Here, for example, is e!olutionar"ps"chologist and populari5er Stephen 4iner railing against an" appeal to the human soul:

;nfortunatel" for that theor", #rain science has shown that the mind is what the #rain does$

The supposedl" immaterial soul can #e #isected with a nife, altered #" chemicals, turned

on or off #" electricit", and extinguished #" a sharp #low or a lac of ox"gen$ 6enturies agoit was unwise to ground moralit" on the dogma that the earth sat at the center of the

uni!erse$ t is *ust as unwise toda" to ground it on dogmas a#out souls endowed #" 7od$

0ithout iron", 4iner, a ps"chologist, denies the existence of the ps"che$ Bet he is ignorant

of the fact that +soul+ need not #e concei!ed as a +ghost in the machine+ or as a separate+thing+ that sur!i!es the #od", #ut can #e understood instead as the integrated powers of the

naturall" organic #od"(the ground and source of awareness, appetite, and action$ He does

not understand that the !ital powers of an organism do not reside in the materials of theorganism #ut emerge onl" when the materials are formed and organi5ed in a particular wa"=

he does not under-stand that the empowering organi5ation of materials-the !ital form or

soul(is not itself material$

There is, of course, nothing no!el a#out reductionism, materialism, and determinism of theind displa"ed here= these are doctrines with which Socrates contended long ago$ 0hat is

new is that these philosophies seem to #e !indicated #" scientific ad!ance$ Here, in

conse&uence, would #e the most pernicious result of the new #iolog"(more dehumani5ingthan an" actual manipulation or techni&ue, present or future: the erosion, perhaps the final

erosion, of the idea of man as no#le, dignified, precious, or godlie, and its replacement

with a !iew of man, no less than of nature, as mere raw material for manipulation and

homogeni5ation$

The new scientism not onl" #anishes soul from its account of life$ t soullessl" neglects the

ethical and spiritual aspects of the human animal$ 1or we alone among the animals go in for

ethici5ing, for concerning oursel!es with how to li!e$ 0e alone among the animals as not

onl" +0hat can now+ #ut also, +0hat ought do+ and +0hat ma" hope+ Science,notwithstanding its great gifts to human life in the form of greater comfort and safet", is

utterl" unhelpful in satisf"ing these great longings of the human soul$

Science, #" design, is notoriousl" morall" neutral, silent on the distinction #etween #etterand worse, right and wrong, the no#le and the #ase$ 'nd although scientists hope that the

uses that will #e made of their findings will #e, as 1rancis )acon prophesied, go!erned in

charit", science can do nothing to insure that result$ t can offer no standards to guide the

use of the awesome powers it places in human hands$ Though it sees uni!ersal nowledge,it has no answer to moral relati!ism$ t nows not what charit" is, what charit" re&uires, or

e!en whether and wh" it is good$ 0hat, then, will remain for us, morall" and spirituall",


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should soul-less scientism succeed in its efforts to o!erthrow our traditional religions, our

inherited !iews of human life, and the moral teachings that depend on them

owhere will this deficienc" #e more readil" felt than with regard to the proposed uses of#iotechnical power for purposes #e"ond the cure of disease and the relief of suffering$ 0e

are promised #etter children, superior performance, ageless #odies, and happ" souls(allwith the help of the #iotechnologies of +enhancement$+ )ioprophets tell us that we are enroute to a new stage of e!olution, to the creation of a post-human societ", a societ" #ased

on science and #uilt #" technolog", a societ" in which traditional teachings a#out human

nature will #e passC and religious teachings a#out how to li!e will #e irrele!ant$

)ut what will guide this e!olution How do we now whether an" of these so-calledenhancements is in fact an impro!ement 0h" oughtan" human #eing em#race a post-

human future Scientism has no answers to these critical moral &uestions$


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them$ 'nd for good reason$ Life.s self-re!elator" testimon" to the li!ing, regarding its own

!ital acti!it", is more immediate, compelling, and trustworth" than are the a#stractedexplanations that e!aporate li!ed experience #" identif"ing it with some correlated #odil"

e!ent$ The most unsophisticated child nows red and #lue more relia#l" than a #lind

ph"sicist with his spectrometers$ 'nd an"one who has e!er lo!ed nows that lo!e cannot #e

reduced to neurotransmitters$

Third, truth and error, no less than human freedom and dignit", #ecome empt" notions

when the soul is reduced to chemicals$ %!en science itself #ecomes impossi#le, #ecause the

!er" possi#ilit" of science depends on the immaterialit" of thought and on the mind.s

independence from the #om#ardment of matter$ 8therwise, there is no truth, there is onl"+it seems to me$+ ot onl" the possi#ilit" for recogni5ing truth and error, #ut also the

reasonsfor doing science rest on a picture of human freedom and dignit" that science itself

cannot recogni5e$ 0onder, curiosit", a wish not to #e self-decei!ed, and a spirit ofphilanthrop" are thesine qua nonof the modern scientific enterprise$ The" are hallmars of

the li!ing human soul, not of the anatomi5ed #rain$

' philosophical criti&ue of scientism ma" gi!e us #ac our souls and restore the human

difference$ )ut philosoph" alone cannot answer the longingsof our soul or suppl" its &uestfor meaning$ 1or such nourishment, we must turn to other sources, including especiall" the

)i#le$ The )i#le offers a profound teaching on human nature, #ut, unlie science, it locates

that teaching in relation to the deepest human longings and concerns$ 1or !arious reasons,we should turn first to the )i#le.s ma*estic #eginning, the stor" of the creation in 7enesis 2

(which, not surprisingl", is the chief target of our soulless scientism$ %lsewhere ha!e

argued that the teachings of 7enesis 2 are in fact untouched #" the scientific findings thatallegedl" mae them +plum# un#elie!a#le$+ 1or 7enesis 2 is not a freestanding historical or

scientific account of what happened and how, #ut rather an awe-inspiring prelude to a

length" and comprehensi!e teaching a#out how we are to li!e$ The )i#le addresses us not

as detached, rational o#ser!ers mo!ed primaril" #" curiosit", #ut as existentiall" engagedhuman #eings who need first and foremost to mae sense of their world and their tas

within it$ The first human &uestion is not +How did this come-into-#eing+ or +How does it

wor+ The first human &uestion is +0hat does all this mean+ and Despeciall"E +0hat am to do here+

The specific claims of the #i#lical account of creation #egin to nourish the soul.s deep

longings for answers to these &uestions$ The world that "ou see around "ou, "ou human

#eing, is orderl" and intelligi#le, an articulated whole comprising distinct inds$ The orderof the world is as rational as the speech that "ou use to descri#e it and that, right #efore

"our DreadingE e"es, summoned it into #eing$ Most importantl", this intelligi#le order of

creatures means mainl" to demonstrate that, contrar" to the #elief of uninstructed humanexperience, the sun, the moon, and the stars are not di!ine, despite their sempiternal #eaut"

and power and their ma*estic perfect motion$ Moreo!er, #eing is hierarchic, and man is the

highest of the creatures, higher than the hea!ens$ Man alone is a #eing that is in the imageof God$

0hat does this mean 'nd can it #e true n the course of recounting His creation, 7enesis

2 introduces us to 7od.s activities and powers: D2E 7od speas, commands, names, #lesses,


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and hallows= D3E 7od maes and maes freel"= DFE 7od loos at and #eholds the world= DGE

7od is concerned with the goodness of things= D>E 7od addresses solicitousl" other li!ingcreatures and pro!ides for their sustenance$ n short: 7od exercises speech and reason,

freedom in doing and maing, and the powers of contemplation, *udgment, and care$


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is to recogni5e, first of all, that we are here not #" choice or on account of merit, #ut as an

undeser!ed gift from powers not at our disposal$ t is to feel the need to *ustif" that gift, tomae something out of our inde#tedness for the opportunit" of existence$ t is to stand in

the world not onl" in awe of the world.s existence #ut under an o#ligation to answer a call

to a worth" life, a life of meaning, a life that does honor to the di!ine-lieness with which

our otherwise animal existence has #een(no thans to us(endowed$ t is explicitl" to feelthe need to find a wa" of life for which we should #e pleased to answer at the #ar of *ustice

when our course is run, in order to !indicate the #lessed opportunit" and the moral-spiritual

challenge that is the true essence of #eing human$

The first chapter of 7enesis(lie no wor of science, no matter how elegant or profound(in!ites us to hearen to a transcendent !oice$ t answers to the human need to now not

onl" how the world wors #ut also what we are to do here$ t is the #eginning of a )i#le-

length response to the human longing for meaning and whole-hearted existence$ The truthsit #espeas are more than cogniti!e$ The" point awa" from mere truths of #elief to the

truths of life in action(of song and praise and ritual, of lo!e and procreation and ci!ic life,

of responsi#le deeds in answering the call to righteousness, holiness, and lo!e of neigh#or$Such truths spea more deepl" and permanentl" to the souls of men than an" mere doctrine,

whether of science or e!en of faith$ 's long as we understand our great religions as the

em#odiments of such truths, we friends of religion will ha!e nothing to fear from science,and we friends of science who are still in touch with our humanit" will ha!e nothing to fear

from religion$

Lie Max and Jae, ha!e no nowledge a#out the world to come$ ;nlie Max and Jae,

ha!e ne!er gi!en it more than a moment.s thought$ 1or, whate!er might #e the fate of oursouls when act fi!e is o!er, it is the pursuit of their well-#eing here and now, while the

show is still running, that is in m" opinion the crucial human tas("esterda", toda",

alwa"s$ Regarding this truth and this wor, no soul-less teachings of science or scientism

should e!er lea!e us #uffaloed$

n 2I the Manhattan nstitute initiated a lecture series in honor of 0alter )$ 0riston,

#aner, author, go!ernment ad!isor, and mem#er of the Manhattan nstitutes )oard of

Trustees$ The 0riston Lecture has since #een presented annuall" in ew Bor 6it" withhonorees drawn from the worlds of go!ernment, the academ", religion, #usiness, and the

arts$ n esta#lishing the Lecture, the Trustees of the Manhattan nstitute(who ser!e as the

selection committee(ha!e sought to inform and enrich intellectual de#ate surrounding thegreat pu#lic issues of our da", and to recogni5e indi!iduals whose ideas or

accomplishments ha!e left a mar on their world$

Kass - Keeping Life Human Science, Religion, And the Soul

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Transcript of Kass - Keeping Life Human Science, Religion, And the Soul