From Mad Ritual to Philosophical Inquiry:

مرکز و کتابخانه مطالعات اسلامی به زبان های اروپایی

منو

" From Mad Ritual to Philosophical Inquiry: "
Nancy Evans

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1082796
Doc. No	:	LA126425
Call No	:	‭10.1163/157430108X376555‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	Nancy Evans
Title & Author	:	From Mad Ritual to Philosophical Inquiry: [Article] : Ancient and Modern Fictions of Continuity and Discontinuity\ Nancy Evans
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Religion and Theology
Date	:	2008
Volume/ Issue Number	:	15/3-4
Page No	:	304–320
Abstract	:	This paper will explore one of the more creative and influential moments of mythmaking and fictionalizing from the ancient Mediterranean world: the (re-)invention of prophetic madness as recorded in Plato's Phaedrus. The fictionalized encounter between Socrates and Phaedrus ranged over topics ranging from homoerotic lovers to the skills of rhetoricians. In the midst of this dialogue Socrates famously interrupts himself with the palinode where he invokes ancient rites of purification that facilitate human access to knowledge of the divine. Here Socrates investigates the links between prophecy and divine madness, and ultimately applies the purported gifts of this madness to pursuits that are generally considered to be more rational. Overlapping social identities and cultic traditions are alluded to in the palinode; drawing from the work of Walter Burkert, Eric Hobsbawm, Bruce Lincoln and Jonathan Z. Smith the paper concludes with an inquiry into whether the multiple religious identities that lie behind this dialogue could be thought to advance and invent a tradition that later came to be known as philosophy. This paper will explore one of the more creative and influential moments of mythmaking and fictionalizing from the ancient Mediterranean world: the (re-)invention of prophetic madness as recorded in Plato's Phaedrus. The fictionalized encounter between Socrates and Phaedrus ranged over topics ranging from homoerotic lovers to the skills of rhetoricians. In the midst of this dialogue Socrates famously interrupts himself with the palinode where he invokes ancient rites of purification that facilitate human access to knowledge of the divine. Here Socrates investigates the links between prophecy and divine madness, and ultimately applies the purported gifts of this madness to pursuits that are generally considered to be more rational. Overlapping social identities and cultic traditions are alluded to in the palinode; drawing from the work of Walter Burkert, Eric Hobsbawm, Bruce Lincoln and Jonathan Z. Smith the paper concludes with an inquiry into whether the multiple religious identities that lie behind this dialogue could be thought to advance and invent a tradition that later came to be known as philosophy.
Descriptor	:	ATHENS
Descriptor	:	GREECE
Descriptor	:	IMPERIALISM
Descriptor	:	MADNESS
Descriptor	:	PHAEDRUS
Descriptor	:	PHILOSOPHY
Descriptor	:	PLATO
Descriptor	:	PROPHECY
Descriptor	:	SOCRATES
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/157430108X376555‬