The President's Council on Bioethics: My Research

The purpose of my research is to advance our understanding about the relationships between philosophy, policy, and science within democratic societies through an interdisciplinary case study of the President's Council on Bioethics under the Chairmanship of Leon Kass. On November 28, 2001 , President George W. Bush signed executive order 13237, establishing the Council with Dr. Leon Kass as its Chair. The “Kass Council” ended on September 9, 2005 , when Kass stepped down as Chairman.

By clarifying how the Council went about its work, my research provides new insights into the relationship between society and science, especially the 21 st century revolution in biomedical science and technology. Its audience is the interdisciplinary community of science, technology, and society (STS) scholars, particularly those interested in science and technology policy and bioethics. Institutions such as federal ethics committees are bridges connecting disparate domains of inquiry and action. They provide learning opportunities about the democratic governance of science and technology and the role of philosophic reflection within the pluralistic public sphere.

My research treats the Council as a topos or place comprised of an interweaving of perennial themes, contingent circumstances, and multiple perspectives. Topical thinking is a recognition of the fluidity of social and epistemological categories. It traces the internal logic of the Council across disciplinary boundaries and historical contexts. An understanding of the Council demands sensitivity to biomedical science and technology, the U.S. political and cultural landscapes, the federal policy advisory system, the historical development of bioethics as public advice and academic profession, and most importantly the philosophic underpinnings of the modern era with its emphasis on the production of scientific knowledge and the promotion of individual liberties. The Kass Council wove together these strands of policy, science, and philosophy. It did so within the context of a pluralist democracy facing enormous new powers for biological self-transformation and, thus, profound decisions about the meaning of being human and leading a good life. The importance of the Council lay in its unique perspective on how we ought to conceive of and confront those decisions.

As an overall assessment, the Council was an important innovation in democratic practices surrounding science and technology. Most importantly, understanding its richer bioethics as a humanistic conversation offers a viable and vital way to improve the arena of policy and public choice—reshaping it as a place of open-minded debate between rival conceptions of the good, rather than a market for the bargaining of individuals, each with their own immutable preferences. But the Kass Council also had its shortcomings when the angels of its better nature succumbed to human fallibility, institutional flaws, and tawdry political machinations. Both its successes and failures provide important lessons for those seeking to improve the quality of public discussion on the ethics and policy of science and technology.