The concept of divine and human “mania” in the Platonic dialogues

Plato in his dialogues presents a complex picture of madness although he does not give the definition of the phenomenon. The philosopher singles out two main kinds of madness: divine and human appropriately to the factors which create them – divine inspiration or imperfection of human nature. In Plato’s concept “mania” takes form of poetic inspiration, love, a gift of prophecy, a dance and mental illness. The picture of a human being deprived his senses makes an important motive of his theoretical and literary deliberations. It is also a point of reference or an example illustrating the main line of deliberation as for instance in the “Laws”.In this article will be discussed the passages of the Platonic dialogues that give information about the way in which the philosopher understood the term “mania”. Particularly important is the reflection on this subject contained in Phaedrus in which different kinds of madness were distinguished and briefly characterized. Especially the essential is the concept of poetic inspiration because it takes an important place in Plato’s theoretical and literary thought. It had also a significant influence on shaping his opinions on the subject of poets and their work. The Plato’s term of poetic inspiration and connected with it the issues of literary output and its reception make the fundamental part of this article.Symbolae Philologorum Posnaniensium Graecae et Latina