IS THERE METHOD IN THIS MADNESS?dramatic contexts in which the dialogues are situated, in the playful
spirit with which they are enacted and the laughter that often resonates
through them. Ironically enough, these dimensions of erotic madness
take on methodological import in precisely those dialogues that many
commentators identify with the “middle period” of Plato’s thinking—the
period in which Plato allegedly moves away from his teacher, Socrates,
and develops the metaphysical system associated with “Platonism.”^2
In what follows, I trace the method of madness at work in two dia-
logues usually associated with this “middle period”—the Symposium and
Republic—by highlighting three strategies Plato uses to subvert dogma-
tism, inspire critical self-refl ection, and model the sort of philosophical
activity capable of transforming the world of human community. The
fi rst is a distancing strategy. The concrete contexts in which Plato situ-
ates the dialogues establish critical distance in two interrelated ways. On
one hand, these contexts distance Plato from his own writing in such a
way that every attempt to ascribe unequivocally any of the views brought
forth in the dialogues to Plato himself is confounded. On the other
hand, the dramatic contexts render ambiguous the manner in which
the text is received, generating a distance between text and reader that
demands critical consideration. Thus, the contexts undermine the au-
thority of both author and text in such a way that the reader is forced to
approach the text with precisely the heightened presence of mind with
which Plato expects the philosopher to engage the world. The second
strategy is grounding: by situating the dialogues in specifi c social and
political contexts with real historical characters who defend positions
of great currency, Plato is able to ground philosophy fi rmly in the con-
tingent world of human community. This gives the philosophical ideas
presented in the text a sense of urgency, legitimacy, and particularity
that mitigates against the attempt to distill from them an abstract set of
universal doctrines. The third strategy is demonstrative: the play, irony,
and laughter found in the dialogues add determinate philosophical con-
tent to the discussions themselves. This sort of play is demonstrative in
the sense that it shows what cannot be said either directly by any of the
characters or by the author himself. Together the distancing, ground-
ing, and demonstrative strategies are aspects of a highly sophisticated
methodological approach that both circumvents a range of metaphilo-
sophical problems and fosters the sort of philosophical openness that
lies at the heart of Plato’s teaching.
As Charles Griswold has suggested, modern treatises on method
are metaphilosophical insofar as they seek to address the very conditions
under which rigorous philosophical investigation can be undertaken.^3
Thus, in prefaces and prolegomena, modern philosophers, speaking