My fishing expedition is far from over, but this item was so good I just had to come back and tell you about it. I've been remiss in letting so much time elapse, but better late than never, eh?

The following is an eye witness account of a Kass sighting at the American Enterprise Institute. I believe it to be genuine.

Apparently, the parched mummy of the once brilliant ethicist was wheeled out on stage, where it proceeded to champ its wizened jaws and expel what was variously described as a "fell miasma", or "dessicated wisdom granules" liberally mixed with finely ground sacred tanna leaves. No, really.

I wouldn't lie to you.

Last night I went to the annual intern dinner at the American Enterprise Institute. Leon Kass...delivered the keynote speech.

Our intrepid reporter Anastasia hails from Liberty Belles, a Catallarchy affiliate. Her observations are a telling little gem regarding the Former-Boy Philosopher-King.

He didn’t say anything contentious for most of the speech, probably because he wasn’t there to deliver a policy lecture but to be agreeable and interesting. Besides, he was preaching to his choir anyway.

He kept talking about the need to politicize bioethics...

Yeah, that's just what we need...

...in order to engage the public in a debate, and he framed his research in terms of “human dignity.” He referred to Huxley’s Brave New World at least seven times...I think he relied more on that book than on solid science to support his vision of the future...

He closed by talking about how certain advances in medicine would undermine human dignity– among them, saving human embryos by implanting them in the womb of a pig. Finally, he asked for questions– in his own words, “the tougher, the better”.

I asked the first question, which was, “How do you reconcile your belief in the fetus’ ‘right to life’ with your belief that human dignity belies being saved by a pig?”

I wasn’t coming down on the issue one way or the other; I only wanted to know if he recognizes the inconsistency and whether he has a logical answer.

He was quiet for a good 30 seconds, then started talking again about the meaning of human dignity. I kept waiting for him to address my question specifically, but he never did. After one more Brave New World reference, he concluded, “…and basically, if you can’t see what’s wrong with having a pig for a mother, I can’t help you”.

This is actually datapoint two in a series. Time out for testimony from a different witness at a different event, a Kass Q&A at Harvard...

Markus Meister...brought up a good example of a technology that has completely changed our lives: telecommunications. A hundred years ago one could have argued that it would be highly unnatural for us to be able to talk to people out of earshot, much less across the globe.

Language is one of the real features that makes us human, so given that telephones have changed the way we speak to each other and even changed the way we think about speaking to each other, where did Kass stand on the issue of phones....were they dehumanizing?

Kass' answer: Well, phones have been around for 100 years but the quality of discussion hasn't improved at Harvard.

Hey, one more and I can plot a curve! And now, back to Anastasia...

A few of the AEI interns came up to me later and expressed their concern that Kass’ answer was rude. I suppose it was, but I wasn’t insulted. I just wanted an actual answer.

If the life of a human being depends on being placed in a pig’s womb, I don’t understand why the place of gestation outweighs the result of saving a life. I especially don’t see how one can oppose emergency gestation anyplace besides the human womb and at the same time support the “right to life” on moral grounds.

Nor do I.

Loyal commenter Clara, a fellow witness to the Philosophe, had this to add...

Anastasia is too modest to describe Dr. Kass’s immediate reaction for you: For the better part of a minute, he just opened and closed his mouth, unable to form a single word in response to her question.

The man was stumped. Clearly.

It's difficult to reconcile your embarassingly contradictory moral imperatives in a public venue, especially on the fly, especially as you near your dotage. Had it been me up on that stage, I might have tried to pass over the moment with a lame witticism, or perhaps a wee, wee dram of measured bluster.

Oh, right. He did.