Existential boundary crossings

an archival exploration of identity projects in nineteenth-century american parricides

Phillip C. Ho Shon

pp. 445-457

in: Ronnie Lippens, James Hardie-Bick (eds), Transcendence and transgression, Human Studies 35 (3), 2012.

Abstract

As a domain of philosophical enquiry that examines what it means to be, existentialism is a moral project that is centered on the self. While a few have applied the precepts of existentialism to the philosophical implications of homicide offenders, one question that has been overlooked in previous literature is "what is the offspring attempting to do by killing his/her parent(s)'? Using historical work on nineteenth century parricides in America, this paper examines parricide as an identity project.