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Philosophy and Madness - Magical Realist - Sep 16, 2026

"The source of astonishment and amazement, involvement and detachment, is the same for both the philosopher and the mad. The philosopher, however, knows how to address such questions in a socially acceptable and conventionally restricted manner. For a mad person, these profound questions can completely derail and dominate their life. They can draw that person into what, for others, are the invisible, obscure depths of madness.

Accepted concepts about how things vanish in madness, and the mad end up in a groundless world, an abyss, an Ungrund. This is in an existence where trees that have been uprooted grow into the heavens and where there are no boundaries — no “containment,” as psychoanalysts would call it. The mad become estranged from the world, perplexed by existential emptiness and fullness happening at the same time. The mad encounter questions of vital importance, whether they want to or not: What is life? What is good and evil? Where does time go?"--- https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/is-madness-philosophy-in-practice/