Serial Killers - Philosophy for Everyone 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
| Foreword |
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viii | |
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| Acknowledgments |
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xi | |
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| Introduction: Meditations on Murder, or What is so Philosophical about Serial Killers? |
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1 | (14) |
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Part I I Think Therefore I Kill: The Philosophical Musings of Serial Killers |
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15 | (36) |
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1 Man is the Most Dangerous Animal of All: A Philosophical Gaze into the Writings of the Zodiac Killer |
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17 | (12) |
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2 A Philosophy of Serial Killing: Sade, Nietzsche, and Brady at the Gates of Janus |
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29 | (12) |
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3 The Situation of the Jury: Attribution Bias in the Trials of Accused Serial Killers |
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41 | (10) |
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Part II Can you Blame Them? Ethics, Evil, and Serial Killing |
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51 | (40) |
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4 Serial Killers as Practical Moral Skeptics: A Historical Survey with Interviews |
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53 | (13) |
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5 Are Psychopathic Serial Killers Evil? Are They Blameworthy for What They Do? |
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66 | (12) |
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6 Sympathy for the Devil: Can a Serial Killer Ever Be Good? |
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78 | (13) |
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Part III Dangerous Infatuations: The Public Fascination with Serial Killers |
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91 | (24) |
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7 The Allure of the Serial Killer |
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93 | (10) |
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8 Dexter's Dark World: The Serial Killer as Superhero |
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103 | (12) |
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Part IV A Eulogy for Emotion: The Lack of Empathy and the Urge to Kill |
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115 | (38) |
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9 Killing with Kindness: Nature, Nurture, and the Female Serial Killer |
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117 | (12) |
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10 It Puts the Lotion in the Basket: The Language of Psychopathy |
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129 | (12) |
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11 Are Serial Killers Cold-Blooded Killers? |
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141 | (12) |
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Part V Creepy Cognition: Talking and Thinking about Serial Killers |
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153 | (36) |
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12 The Serial Killer was (Cognitively) Framed |
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155 | (11) |
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13 Wolves and Widows: Naming, Metaphor, and the Language of Serial Murder |
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166 | (12) |
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14 An Arresting Conversation: Police Philosophize about the and Armed and Dangerous |
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178 | (11) |
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Part VI Psycho-Ology: Killer Mindsets and Meditations on Murder |
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189 | (37) |
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15 Psychopathy and Will to Power: Ted Bundy and Dennis Rader |
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191 | (15) |
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16 The Thread of Death, or the Compulsion to Kill |
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206 | (20) |
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A Solemn Afterword: A Message from the Victim's Network |
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218 | (4) |
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A Timeline of Serial Killers |
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222 | (4) |
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| Notes on Contributors |
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226 | |
Editor S. Waller is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Montana State University Bozeman. Her areas of research are philosophy of neurology, philosophy of cognitive ethology (especially dolphins, wolves, and coyotes), and philosophy of mind, specifically the parts of the mind we disavow. Series Editor 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 Universitys Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics. In addition to editing the Philosophy for Everyone series, Allhoff is the volume editor or co-editor for several titles, including Wine & Philosophy (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007), Whiskey & Philosophy (with Marcus P. Adams, Wiley, 2009), and Food & Philosophy (with Dave Monroe, Wiley-Blackwell, 2007).
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