madness and reason

[hermeneut]

"After having studied
philosophy,
I wanted to see
what madness was:
I had been mad enough
to study reason;
I was reasonable enough
to study madness."

-- Foucault

Comments

[skippers]

I don't really like that quote.

It says something, yes, but it's just like writing, "I loved so much to the point of hate, and hated to love so," which hey, isn't nonsense, but it almost seems like immature writing. I'm reminded too much of teenagers using words just because they signal 'big' ideas behind them--but their usage renders the term meaningless.

It isn't a big deal, that just strikes me.

[hermeneut]

I should have contextualized the quote. Madness isn't diametrically opposed to reason the way hate is opposed to love. Foucault understands madness the way Plato spoke of mania, which is not an experience of insanity, but rather an experience of divine inspiration that releases one from the limits of finite selfhood. Madness is the infinite love of Goodness and Beauty. Plato argues (in his dialogue, Phaedrus) that philosophy is a sort of madness wherein the philosopher falls in love with Ideal Goodness. Reason, from the latin 'ratio' is logos in Greek (as in logic). Logos is Word in the Gospel of John, and in other texts it is translated as meaning, structure, and discourse. The philosopher uses words to love the Good, in the way that the theo-logian uses words to express the love of humans toward God and God toward humanity

[kinderheldin]

I like the quotation a whole lot (in fact, it made me laugh out loud). :>

[hermeneut]

It's been a favorite of mine for a while now. An interesting synchronicity: the first time I read this quotation I laughed out loud also. There's more wit in Foucault than the majority of scholars are willing to admit. It reminds me of how laughter, philosophy, and madness all converge in the corpus of Nietzsche. In his Zarathustra, Nietzsche spoke thus of laughter:

"Tortuously do all good things come nigh to their goal. Like cats they curve their backs, they purr inwardly with their approaching happiness,- all good things laugh."

"How many things are still possible! So learn to laugh beyond yourselves! Lift up your hearts, you good dancers, high! higher! And do not forget the good laughter!"

Cheers.