Eric Cohen is a bioethics scholar and writer who contributed extensively to The Weekly Standard from 1996 to 2018. His articles frequently explored the intersection of biotechnology, medical ethics, and liberal democratic values, covering topics such as end-of-life issues, cloning, and the moral dimensions of technological progress. He is the founder and editor of The New Atlantis, a journal devoted to technology, science, and politics.
Since the birth of the modern age, conservatives of various stripes have lamented—often with good reason—the cultural decline of post-Enlightenment society. Such critiques have emphasized different defects: the shrinking of human beings to mere seekers of comfort; the loss of reverence for…
In a March 2016 speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, Donald Trump declared that if he became president, he would “move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem.” His choice of phrase—“eternal capital”—perhaps bears some…
Annihilation from Within
TECHNOLOGY IN ITS MANY GUISES was a central theme of President Bush's State of the Union address--from Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons to the production of revolutionary energy technologies to the need to ban the creation of human-animal hybrids. In other words: Technology as mortal threat.…
The first issue of this magazine appeared in September 1995, part way through the Clinton administration, and less than a year after the Republican victory in the congressional elections of 1994. The pressing foreign policy issue of the day was Bosnia. The world seems a very different place today.…
CONSCIENCE IS A SLIPPERY THING. In 2001, during the first few months of the Bush presidency, America engaged in a debate about the ethics of embryo research. The policy question was narrow: Should the federal government use public funds to support stem cell research that involves embryo…
IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE Terri Schiavo case, it seems clear that most Americans are uncomfortable at the prospect of politicians' intervening in family decisions about life and death. This is not only understandable, but usually wise. Americans understand that eventually they will have to make…
THE STORY OF TERRI SCHIAVO is both peculiar in its details and paradigmatic in its meaning. The legal twists, political turns, and central characters are so odd that one hesitates to draw any broader conclusions. But the Schiavo case is also a tragic example of the moral and legal confusions that…
JOHN KERRY'S recent assertions about stem cell research are so obviously untrue and so easily refuted that he must on some level actually believe them--as only an ideologue can. He claims repeatedly that President Bush has "enacted a far-reaching ban on stem cell research"; in fact, the Bush…
IT IS INCREASINGLY CLEAR that John Kerry and the Democrats plan to make embryonic stem cell research a campaign issue. In a speech in Denver last week, Sen. Kerry attacked the Bush administration for letting "ideology and fear stand in the way" of medical progress. In a June 12 radio address, he…
IN A RECENT REPORT for investors in the biotech industry, the relationship between biotechnology and terrorism is described as follows: "Ugly as bioterrorism is, bringing biotech back into the headlines in the capacity of a savior has done much to stimulate the sector since its mid-September 2001…
IN JANUARY, the President's Council on Bioethics began its first meeting with a reading of Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "The Birthmark," a parable of a scientist's obsessive effort to remove a "crimson stain" from his wife's cheek. It is about the mad quest for perfection--the revolt against "sin,…
THERE HAVE BEEN TWO PROMINENT RESPONSES to the news that the Jones Institute in Virginia is creating human embryos simply to harvest their stem cells: concern and outrage. Mark Warner, the Democratic candidate for governor in Virginia, is concerned. Asked in the governor’s debate last week if he…
AMONG THE ISSUES in American politics that inspire the most ideological fervor these days, stem cells and missile defense are at the top of the list. Missile defense has a long history: To conservative Republicans, it is a fixture of the Reagan legacy, of American strength, independence, and…
AFTER A FAILED EFFORT to ban human cloning in 1998, Congress has taken up the issue once again. There have been hearings in both the House and the Senate, testimony from fertility doctors and cult leaders who want to clone human beings, and heavy rhetoric about the coming of a Brave New World. In…
Last February, a few days after a man from Indiana had fired several shots at the White House, I found myself driving a group of black fourth and fifth graders to the U.S. Capitol for a private tour. George W. Bush had just been inaugurated, so I asked the kids what they thought about their new…
Last February, a few days after a man from Indiana had fired several shots at the White House, I found myself driving a group of black fourth and fifth graders to the U.S. Capitol for a private tour. George W. Bush had just been inaugurated, so I asked the kids what they thought about their new…
At the luncheon after George W. Bush's inauguration, senator Mitch McConnell toasted the new president as an American "Joshua," whose ability to bring people together would lead the nation to the promised land. It was a religion-filled day -- with President Bush appealing to saints and angels in…
In a recent interview, Daniel Patrick Moynihan compared the United States of 2000 to Rome in its golden age, mere decades before its fall. "Enjoy what joy we have," said Moynihan, "and expect things to be worse." The comparison to Rome is apt: America, like Rome, is enjoying a festival of wealth;…
Outside an August 1998 trade show in Santa Clara, Calif., a coalition of left-wing Bay Area groups denounced Silicon Valley for failing to share its wealth with minority consumers and employees. "Intel, Intel you're no good, / bring computers to the 'hood," the protesters chanted. An Intel…
At the most recent Washington, D.C., Drug Court "graduation" -- a monthly event for drug defendants who have successfully stayed in treatment -- Mark Williams stole the show. Williams, a transvestite dressed in checkered hot pants with matching pocketbook, gave spirited testimony. "I want to thank…
For all their sophistication about paradox, postmodern literary theorists seem not to understand one of the most basic of literary paradoxes: While each age exists as a unique moment in history, its particularity is defined by its non-particularity -- by the particular answers it gives to those…
ASKED FOR A DEFINITION of compassionate conservatism at a recent luncheon in Washington, Stephen Goldsmith didn't miss a beat: "To me it means that Republicans have an obligation to help those who are in difficult straits, and that we can do that and still be conservative at the same time." He…
The initials "DDT" still give Americans the jitters -- and that fact alone demonstrates the remarkable success of the environmental movement at (as the activists say) "raising our consciousness."
AT THE POTOMAC JOB CORPS CENTER in Washington, D.C., disadvantaged youths aged 16 to 24 live in dorms, work on reading, and learn trades. Some study to become house painters, others to become bricklayers, carpenters -- even cosmetologists. And all of them study American history. Well, sort of.