Plato Madness Research Paper

Madness is defined as a state of severe mental illness. It is seen as how you think and/or act with another person or thing. In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates, while saying his Great Speech, lists two types of madness and four types of “divine madness.” In this speech, he establishes many different thoughts and beliefs. One of the most important statements Socrates claimed is that madness is shown to be of utmost importance in life. We have all experienced different types of madness in our lives. Of course no human being is the same so the affects and reactions vary. I believe that if we do not have madness in our lives then our lives would be boring. There would be no passion and no excitement. It is sometimes nice to have something different

Socrates says that madness that comes from love is the best kind of madness. While speaking to Phaedrus he states that there are two types of madness and four types of divine madness. He tells Phaedrus that the two kinds of madness are “produced by human illness, and the other by a divinely inspired release from normally accepted behavior” (Plato, 265a). What he means by this is that our madness can stem from us being sick, mentally and/or physically. We can also become mad by just being ourselves. The four kinds of divine madness come from “the inspiration of the prophet to Apollo, of the mystic to Dionysus, of the poet to the Muses, and the fourth part of madness to Aphrodite and to Love” (Plato, 265b). Socrates states that the first type of divine madness guides cities and individuals. The second type of divine madness is the one that consoles or relieves you from any type of hardship or stress. He states that this can happen in the form of prayers, purification, mystic rites, and in the form of prophecies. The divine madness coming from the Muses awakens the soul to a “Bacchic frenzy of songs and poetry” (Plato, 245a). This implies that this type of divine madness enters into our virgin and innocent souls and stirs it up so much that chaos occurs. Lastly, divine madness coming from Aphrodite and Eros is love. Yet, even after Socrates described all of

Animals also can experience madness. They can experience just as much as human beings do, but they do not experience divine madness because they are not philosophical. Animals can understand themselves think. For example a dog knows when you are arriving, but these thoughts are not considered self-conscious thoughts. Animals go mad when a tragedy occurs or when they are put in different settings and environments. Although animals and humans are different when it comes to what type of madness we experience we both share the madness that love brings us. Throughout Socrates’ Great Speech, he emphasized that love, or eros, was the best kind of madness. He also claimed that wisdom comes from love. He declares that if we seek wisdom we will receive love. He continues to state that when we encounter eros, it is so powerful that we can feel love and are reminded that we were souls, and that we have wings. As mammals, we have all encountered some type of love, whether it comes from your family or friends or pets, we have all experienced it. Animals go mad when a loved one gets hurt or when they are run out of their homes due to natural causes or human activities. Due to animals’ maternal and paternal instincts they automatically take care of their young just as we humans do. Animals have the ability to go mad because they can feel