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Reason First: Leopold and Loeb and the Power of a Vicious Morality

The duo of death took Nietzsche at his bloody word.

By Skyler SaundersPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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Reason First: Leopold and Loeb and the Power of a Vicious Morality
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash

The power of philosophy is at the basis for all human action. From the most primitive jungle-dweller to the most advanced doctor in the field of physics, they must rely on the tenets of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics, especially. Nathan Freudenthal Leopold and Richard A. Loeb found no impotence in Nietzsche’s support of the ubermensch.

They eschewed philosophers like Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas to favor the teachings of a thinker who espoused evil ideas despite the errors of the aforementioned philosophers. So it is was not the impotence of philosophy that led to the murder of 14-year-old Bobby Franks. The duo caved in his skull with a hefty chisel multiple times. They held his head underwater. The vicious pair poured hydrochloric acid on Franks, disfiguring the young boy’s face.

They then stuffed his remains into a drain pipe. The two retired to eat a hot dog and drink whisky. They would then lie about the good condition of Franks and demand a ransom from his mother for $10,000.

In time, investigators would discover Leopold’s glasses and attach them to the murderer. This all took place in just over a week. Because he had committed the crime, of course he couldn’t find his spectacles at his home which led to his arrest.

Loeb soon saw the cold steel of justice wrap around his wrists. The two would then confess and snitch on the other, stating that the other had employed the use of the chisel.

How could this be? While some take in the more poetic side of Nietzschean philosophy and would never murder someone, Leopold and Loeb took some of those insidious ideas to the extreme. They felt that they had raised above all of humanity and could strike down anyone at any time. Sadly, their theoretical conjecturing led to the murder of Bobby Franks. With a proper philosophy this would never come to pass. A philosophy based on reason would have led them to understand the meaning and importance of life.

Leopold and Loeb showed that a thought, no matter how wicked, can be put into practice. The gruesome slaying paints a portrait of two young men intent on causing terror. Their harsh actions derived from Nietszche’s emotionalism and that the superman is above all reproach. Leopold and Loeb soon learned that this was not the case.

Their heinous acts remain the ugly manifestation of an improper morality. While Nietzsche may have had some resonating tidbits about the individual, he wanted to showcase how the superman should sacrifice men to himself. In the crime, the disastrous duo emoted and put more emphasis on the teachings of the German philosopher.

Their story told in literature and cinema may not capture the philosophical basis of the two murderers. This is a mistake. The two of them took on the roles of puppets to the ideas of a man who missed the mark on ethics. All of their actions stemmed from the pen of a feeler. All of his intentions to project a man of superior ability and insusceptibility to all morality failed completely. Only his poetic edge can be salvaged from the muck of his ideas.

As for the perilous pair, Loeb and Leopold soon found that their actions would lead to their time in prison. While on lockdown, an inmate sliced Loeb’s throat. Leopold fared a bit better. after serving a 33-year stint behind bars, he would die of a heart attack attached to complications of diabetes.

So was justice served? The fact that Loeb received the similar treatment that he doled out himself, he still should have experienced the years of imprisonment. And Leopold should have been given no chance of escaping from the confines of a cell.

Throughout time, works like Rope (1929 play; 1939 teleplay; 1938 film) have detailed the grisly details of the two young brutes. Their example of how bad philosophy can hold power will be studied in the halls of scholarship. It’s just a shame that Bobby Franks will never know that he was the root for such academic attention.

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Skyler Saunders

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