<\/p>
In a 2002 article on stem cell research in The Public Interest <\/em> , Leon Kass offered a gruesomely memorable test for the claim that a human embryo is nothing but a piece of tissue. On the one hand, he noted, if an embryo dies \u201cwe are sad\u2014largely for her loss and disappointment, but perhaps also at the premature death of a life that might have been. But we do not mourn the departed fetus, nor do we seek ritually to dispose of the remains.\u201d Thus, from this angle, \u201cwe do not treat even the fetus as fully one of us.\u201d <\/p>\n Kass offers another test: \u201cwe would, I suppose, recoil even from the thought, let alone the practice\u2014I apologize for forcing it upon the reader\u2014of eating such embryos, should someone discover that they would provide a great delicacy, a \u2018human caviar.\u2019 The human blastocyst would be protected by our taboo against cannibalism, which insists on the humanness of human flesh and does not permit us to treat even the flesh of the dead as if it were mere meat. The human embryo is not mere meat; it is not just stuff; it is not a \u2018thing.\u2019 Because of its origin and because of its capacity, it commands a higher respect.\u201d <\/p>\n How much higher, Kass asks? He answers that his inclination is to say that the embryo does not deserve the same respect as \u201ca fully developed human being,\u201d but admits he may be wrong: \u201cIndeed, there might be prudential and reasonable grounds for an affirmative answer, partly because the presumption of ignorance ought to err in the direction of never underestimating the basis for respect of human life (not least, for our own self-respect), partly because so many people feel very strongly that even the blastocyst is protectably human.\u201d <\/p>\n We don\u2019t, in short, really believe that the embryo is \u201conly tissue.\u201d The danger with the human caviar argument is that some may be prepared to be manically consistent. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a 2002 article on stem cell research in The Public Interest , Leon Kass offered a gruesomely memorable test for the claim that a human embryo is nothing but a piece of tissue. On the one hand, he noted, if an embryo dies \u201cwe are sad\u2014largely for her loss and disappointment, but perhaps also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,22,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-philosophy","category-politics","category-science"],"yoast_head":"\n