Socrates Madness Essay

Now in the third speech, Socrates’ cautious soul addresses him of his alluring defamation of love opposed to the divinity face of love. “…A[a]ccording to Ibycus, lest by ‘doing something amiss with the gods, I should take in exchange honor from human beings’.”(Phaedrus p. 45)

By making amends Socrates begins a retraction of his speech. Socrates explains that love stems from a form of madness, but clarifies that not all madness is wicked. There are many kinds of madness. One type of madness is plainly corruption, however there is a different madness that shapes inspiration. Examples of this are prophecy and poetry. “For if it were simply the case that madness is something bad, it would be beautifully said; but as things are, the greatest of good things come into being for us through

“In this category goes the madness of the true lover. His is a generous state that confers blessings to the ignoring of self, whereas the conduct of the non-lover displays all the selfishness of business. It is the vulgar that do not realize that the madness of the noble lover is an inspired madness because he has his thoughts turned toward a beauty of divine origin.” (Weaver p. 13) With this Socrates presents the “noble lover”, that is the exact opposite of the evil lover. In contrast the noble lover is not deceitful or possessive his beloved. The noble lover has concerned the battle within his own soul by dominating his desires and focusing his utmost attention on his divine beloved. He presents a high esteemed approach toward the beloved. Therefore, think of all speech having a persuasive power as a type of love. Thus, rhetorical speech is a kind of madness. However, there is always some kind of overabundance or insufficiency that invokes the world of symbolism. “This explains why there is an immortal feud between men of business and the users of metaphor and metonymy, the poets and the rhetoricians.” “A