An experiment

[Pierre]

Yes, but of course your postmodernist doesn't believe in an "absolute truth." He thinks truth is subjective and should be determined by the individual.

Well, you see, than you would have to throw away mathematics as well as source criticism and all the instruments for measurement that are available to us. And this will never happen. Those who are inclined to a "postmodernist" view on the world, in the meaning of a total relativism, do not understand statistics. On the other hand, the total fundamentalist view, strongly and highly objectivated through matematics, does not see the individual. So we need scales and critical, reflexive thinking but also idiographic as well as nomothetic history. After all, Jack the Ripper is a very special piece of history.

Regards, Pierre

[Elamarna]

After all, Jack the Ripper is a very special piece of history.

Really?

Why is it very special ?

steve

[Pierre]

Really?

Why is it very special ?

steve

1. Rare type of serial killer
2. Short period of time
3. Small area
4. Specific signature
5. Managed to escape

So idiographic history is a necessary approach to the case.

Regards, Pierre

[John Wheat]

1. Rare type of serial killer
2. Short period of time
3. Small area
4. Specific signature
5. Managed to escape

So idiographic history is a necessary approach to the case.

Regards, Pierre

1-5 Aren't you stating the obvious. Why is idiographic history a necessary approach to the case?

[Robert St Devil]

Why is idiographic history a necessary approach to the case?

PTI John Wheat

I could see it being necessary just for the large gaps of time in-between murders. And also because one has to question how exhausted is the evidence. How much more can you pull out of them objectively before you can only conclude on a verdict of "Jack the Ripper: Bogeyman"? Without the introduction of new evidence, has objectivity met its limits?

[Pierre]

1-5 Aren't you stating the obvious. Why is idiographic history a necessary approach to the case?

Because two purposes for idiographic history is to understand and explain the particular.

So you can pose the following questions, for example:

1. Rare type of serial killer

= A particular type:

a) How can we understand this rare type (Verstehen, in the tradition of Max Weber) of serial killer?
b) How can we explain this rare type (What variables, hypotheses and/or theories will throw light on this rare type)?

2. Short period of time

= A particular time period:

a) How can we understand this particular time period (Verstehen)?
b) How can we explain this particular time period (What variables, hypotheses and/or theories will throw light on it)?

3. Small area

= A particular area:

a) How can we understand the established fact that the murders were committed in this particular area (Verstehen)?
b) How can we explain this (What variables, hypotheses and/or theories will throw light on it)?

4. Specific signature

= A particular signature:

a) How can we understand this specific signature (Verstehen)?
b) How can we explain this specific signature (What variables, hypotheses and/or theories will throw light on it)?

5. Managed to escape

= A particular established fact and also a particular behaviour:

a) How can we understand the established fact that he managed to excape (Verstehen)?
b) How can we explain this (What variables, hypotheses and/or theories will throw light on it)?

Regards, Pierre

[David Orsam]

Another possible word!

Why am I bringing this ridiculous thread back to life?

Because I stumbled across a document the other day - a handwritten letter to the Home Secretary dated 16 November 1888 as it happens - in which there appears a word which looks a bit like 'Juwes' but is not 'Juwes' or 'Jewes' or 'Judges' or 'Jutes' or any of the other possibilities previously discussed in this thread.

In other words, there is one more word it could have been (which is in the dictionary) which escaped everyone's attention. It certainly would have looked more like 'Juwes' when written on a wall than 'Judges'.

Before posting the image of this word in the letter I thought I would give everyone the opportunity of guessing what it could be. I'll give you all about 24 hours.

I don't think anyone will get it but actually you should, it's fairly easy, and you'll kick yourself when I tell you what it is (unless someone gets it before I reveal it!).

[Abby Normal]

Why am I bringing this ridiculous thread back to life?

Because I stumbled across a document the other day - a handwritten letter to the Home Secretary dated 16 November 1888 as it happens - in which there appears a word which looks a bit like 'Juwes' but is not 'Juwes' or 'Jewes' or 'Judges' or 'Jutes' or any of the other possibilities previously discussed in this thread.

In other words, there is one more word it could have been (which is in the dictionary) which escaped everyone's attention. It certainly would have looked more like 'Juwes' when written on a wall than 'Judges'.

Before posting the image of this word in the letter I thought I would give everyone the opportunity of guessing what it could be. I'll give you all about 24 hours.

I don't think anyone will get it but actually you should, it's fairly easy, and you'll kick yourself when I tell you what it is (unless someone gets it before I reveal it!).

Is it still make sense in the context of the phrase? As in could they be"men"?

[David Orsam]

Is it still make sense in the context of the phrase? As in could they be"men"?

Yes Abby, with this word it does make sense and they could be those men.

[Abby Normal]

Yes Abby, with this word it does make sense and they could be those men.

is it a last name like Jones?

[David Orsam]

is it a last name like Jones?

No, it's a proper word.

[Pcdunn]

Thieves

[David Orsam]

Thieves

No, it's a word that begins with the letter 'J'.

[Pierre]

No, it's a word that begins with the letter 'J'.

And ends with -es.

[David Orsam]

And ends with -es.

Yes, and more than that, I'm confident it will pass "the Pierre test" by which I mean those 20 questions that you asked every time someone offered a suggestion. In other words, I think you will have to accept it as a possibility.