Serial Killers - Philosophy for Everyone Being and Killing

by Allhoff, Fritz; Waller, S.; Doris, John M.

• ISBN13: 9781405199636
• ISBN10: 1405199636
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-11
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Serial Killers & Philosophy investigates our profound intrigue with mass-murderers. Exploring existential, ethical and political questions through an examination of real and fictional serial killers, philosophy comes alive via an exploration of grisly death. Presents new philosophical theories about serial killing, and relates new research in cognitive science to the minds of serial killers Includes a philosophical look at real serial killers such as Ian Brady, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer and the Zodiac killer, as well as fictional serial killers such as Dexter and Hannibal Lecter Offers a new phenomenological examination of the writings of the Zodiac Killer Contains an account of the disappearance of one of Ted Bundy's victims submitted by the organization Families and Friends of Missing Persons and Violent Crime Victims Integrates the insights of philosophers, academics, crime writers and police officers

Author Biography

S. Waller is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Montana State University Bozeman. Fritz Allhoff is an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at Western Michigan University, as well as a Senior Research Fellow at the Australian National University's Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. viii
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction: Meditations on Murder, or What is so Philosophical about Serial Killers?	p. 1
I Think Therefore I Kill: The Philosophical Musings of Serial Killers	p. 15
Man is the Most Dangerous Animal of All: A Philosophical Gaze into the Writings of the Zodiac Killer	p. 17
A Philosophy of Serial Killing: Sade, Nietzsche, and Brady at the Gates of Fanus	p. 29
The Situation of the Jury: Attribution Bias in the Trials of Accused Serial Killers	p. 41
Can You Blame Them? Ethics, Evil, and Serial Killing	p. 51
Serial Killers as Practical Moral Skeptics: A Historical Survey with Interviews	p. 53
Are Psychopathic Serial Killers Evil? Are They Blameworthy for What They Do?	p. 66
Sympathy for the Devil: Can a Serial Killer Ever Be Good?	p. 78
Dangerous Infatuations: The Public Fascination with Serial Killers	p. 91
The Allure of the Serial Killer	p. 93
Dexter's Dark World: The Serial Killer as Superhero	p. 103
A Eulogy for Emotion: The Lack of Empathy and the Urge to Kill	p. 115
Killing with Kindness: Nature, Nurture, and the Female Serial Killer	p. 117
It Puts the Lotion in the Basket: The Language of Psychopathy	p. 129
Are Serial Killers Cold-Blooded Killers?	p. 141
Creepy Cognition: Talking and Thinking about Serial Killers	p. 153
The Serial Killer was (Cognitively) Framed	p. 155
Wolves and Widows: Naming, Metaphor, and the Language of Serial Murder	p. 166
An Arresting Conversation: Police Philosophize about the Armed and Dangerous	p. 178
Psycho-ology: Killer Mindsets and Meditations on Murder	p. 189
Psychopathy and Will to Power: Ted Bundy and Dennis Rader	p. 191
The Thread of Death, or the Compulsion to Kill	p. 206
A Solemn Afterword: A Message from the Victim's Network	p. 218
A Timeline of Serial Killers	p. 222
Notes on Contributors	p. 226
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