Theoretical Killings: Essays & Accidents

by Steven Church

Theoretical Killings is not simply a collection of essays on ethics, aesthetics, and epistemology, as one may glean from his table of contents. Instead, this mixed-genre collage of accidents and explorations is a journey into the depths of the human mind. Church examines moral intuition through an imaginary serial killer and soap carver named Smith, has discussions of beauty disguised in blood-filled bathtubs and a butcher shop, and proffers letters of admiration to Abe Lincoln and the Bionic Man. This collection philosophizes without any philosophical rhetoric and questions everything without questioning a thing. Unforgiving and unapologetic (though filled with apologies), this book is wildly entertaining and thought provoking, a post-modern jumble of jumbo toys, smashing chairs, and obsessive correspondences.

195 pages, Paperback

First published November 16, 2009