Phenomenology and Serial Murder
STUDYING SERIAL MURDER : THE NEED FOR ANOTHER APPROACH
How we look at the problem of serial murder will determine what we find. The conscience of humanity demands that the taking of one human life by another be explained. Human beings are distinguished from other life forms in terms of their ability to develop culture. Implicit in this notion is our sociability. Human beings have, at once, the capacity to behave in prosocial and antisocial ways two dimensions that are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, it may be the result of protective or humanitarian motives that prompt one individual to kill another. The act of taking another’s life may thus be understandable and acceptable in terms of its apparent utility Killing does not always involve criminal, violent, aggressive, or intentional acts. Killing someone in self-defense or in the context of war are examples of comprehensible killing. There are, however, other kinds of killing for ...