Writing the Manic Subject: Rhetorical Passivity in Plato'sPhaedrus

Robin Reames ; Courtney Sloey University of Illinois Chicago

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis essay questions the reading of Plato's Phaedrus according to which writing is understood as a mechanism of objectivity and critical distance. Plato's denomination of writing as a “pharmakon” (a poison/cure) indicates a deep ambiguity in his definition of writing—an ambiguity embodied in Phaedrus's written speech. The speech triggers both critical analysis and a simultaneous “rhetorical passivity,” whereby upon hearing the speech Socrates is consumed by a manic power. Although Socrates explicitly decries the detrimental consequences of writing in the Myth of Theuth (that it destroys living speech), he nevertheless is overcome by the power of the written speech and driven to a state of logomania. The Phaedrus demonstrates the potential for the written word to release one into a type of passivity, where the subject is no longer an autonomous master but a passive receiver.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2021-03-12
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.54.1.0001
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Rhetoric Review
  2. Philosophy & Rhetoric

References (73)

  1. Alcidamas. 2001. The Works & Fragments. Ed. and trans. J. V. Muir. London: Bristol Classical Press.
  2. Aly, Wolfgang. 1929. Formprobleme der frühgriechischen Prosa. Philologus Supplementband 21 (3). Leipzig: Diet…
  3. Barnett, Scot, and Casey Boyle, eds. 2016. Rhetoric through Everyday Things. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabam…
  4. Belfiore, Elizabeth S. 2006. “Dancing with the Gods: The Myth of the Chariot in Plato's Phaedrus.” American J…
  5. Berrios, G. E. 2004. “Of Mania: Introduction.” History of Psychiatry 15 (1): 105–24.
Show all 73 →
  1. Bett, Richard. 1986. “Immortality and the Nature of the Soul in the Phaedrus.” Phronesis 31 (1): 1–26.
  2. Buckley, Tim. 2006. “Historical Cycle of Hermeneutics in Proclus' Platonic Theology.” In Reading Plato in Ant…
  3. Clegg, J. S. 1976. “Plato's Vision of Chaos.” Classical Quarterly 26:52–61.
  4. Cole, Thomas. 1991. The Origins of Rhetoric in Ancient Greece. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  5. Cook, Albert. 1985. “Dialectic, Irony, and Myth in Plato's Phaedrus.” American Journal of Philology 106:427–44.
  6. Davis, Diane D. 2010. Inessential Solidarity: Rhetoric and Foreigner Relations. Pittsburgh: University of Pit…
  7. Deleuze, Gilles. 1994. Difference and Repetition. Trans. Paul Patton. New York: Columbia University Press.
  8. Denniston, J. D. 1934/1959. The Greek Particles. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon.
  9. Derrida, Jacques. 1981. “Plato's Pharmacy.” In Dissemination, trans. Barbara Johnson, 51–172. Chicago: Univer…
  10. de Vries, G. J. 1969. A Commentary on the Phaedrus of Plato. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  11. Dodds, E. R. 1951. “The Blessing of Madness.” In The Greeks and the Irrational, 64–101. Oakland: University o…
  12. Dušanić, Slobodan. 1992. “Alcidamas of Elaea in Plato's Phaedrus.” Classical Quarterly 42 (2): 347–57.
  13. Dyson, M. 1982. “Zeus and Philosophy in the Myth of Plato's Phaedrus.” Classical Quarterly 32:307–11.
  14. Evans, Nancy. 2008. “From Mad Ritual to Philosophical Inquiry: Ancient and Modern Fictions of Continuity and …
  15. Ferrari, G. R. F. 1987. Listening to the Cicadas: A Study of Plato's Phaedrus. New York: Cambridge University…
  16. Foucault, Michel. 1988. Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason. Trans. Richard …
  17. Frutiger, Perceval. 1930/1976. Les mythes de Platon. Paris: Librairie Félix Alcan.
  18. Gaonkar, Dilip P. 1990a. “The Idea of Rhetoric in the Rhetoric of Science.” In Rhetorical Hermeneutics: Inven…
  19. Gaonkar, Dilip P. 1990b. “Rhetoric and Its Double: Reflections on the Rhetorical Turn in the Human Sciences.”…
  20. Gaonkar, Dilip P. 1993. “Object and Method in Rhetorical Criticism: From Wichelns to Leff and McGee.” Western…
  21. Griswold, Charles L., Jr. 1986. Self-Knowledge in Plato's “Phaedrus.” New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  22. Hackforth, Reginald. 1952. Plato: Phaedrus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  23. Havelock, Eric A. 1963. Preface to Plato. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  24. Hawhee, Debra. 2004. Bodily Arts: Rhetoric and Athletics in Ancient Greece. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  25. Hawhee, Debra. 2009. Moving Bodies: Kenneth Burke at the Edges of Language. Columbia: University of South Car…
  26. Hawhee, Debra. 2017. Rhetoric in Tooth and Claw: Animals, Language, Sensation. Chicago: University of Chicago…
  27. Heath, Malcolm. 1989a. “The Unity of Plato's Phaedrus.” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 7:151–73.
  28. Heath, Malcolm. 1989b. “The Unity of the Phaedrus: A Postscript.” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 7:189–91.
  29. Heidegger, Martin. 1977a. “The Question Concerning Technology.” In The Question Concerning Technology and Oth…
  30. Heidegger, Martin. 1977b. “The Word of Nietzsche: ‘God Is Dead.’” In The Question Concerning Technology and O…
  31. Helmbold, W. C., and W. B. Holther. 1950–52. “The Unity of the Phaedrus.” University of California Publicatio…
  32. Hyland, Drew. 1968. “Why Plato Wrote Dialogues.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 1 (1): 38–50.
  33. Jasnow, Richard, Joseph Manning, Kyoko Yamahana, and Myriam Krutzsch. 2016. Demotic and Hieratic Papyri in th…
  34. Kastely, James L. 2002. “Respecting the Rupture: Not Solving the Problem of Unity in Plato's Phaedrus.” Philo…
  35. Kennedy, George. 1994. A New History of Classical Rhetoric. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  36. Kirkland, Sean D. 2004. “Socrates ‘contra scientium, pro fabula.’” Epoché: A Journal for the History of Philo…
  37. Lebeck, Anne. 1972. “The Central Myth of Plato's Phaedrus.” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 13:267–90.
  38. Linforth, Ivan M. 1946. “The Corybantic Rites in Plato.” University of California Publications in Classical P…
  39. Marrou, H. I. 1956. A History of Education in Antiquity. Trans. George Lamb. Madison: University of Wisconsin…
  40. Mikalson, Jon D. 2010. Ancient Greek Religion. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
  41. Miller, Paul Allen. 2007. Postmodern Spiritual Practices. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.
  42. Muckelbauer, John. 2008. The Future of Invention: Rhetoric, Postmodernism, and the Problem of Change. Albany:…
  43. Murray, Penelope. 1999. “What Is a Muthos for Plato?” In From Myth to Reason: Studies in the Development of G…
  44. Ogden, Daniel, ed. 2010. A Companion to Greek Religion. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
  45. Ong, Walter. 2002. Orality and Literacy. Albingdon: Routledge.
  46. Plass, Paul. 1968. “The Unity of the Phaedrus.” Symbolae Osloenses 43:7–38. Reprinted in Plato: True and Soph…
  47. Plato. 2002. Phaedrus. Trans. Robin Waterfield. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  48. Preus, Anthony. 1998. Greek Philosophy: Egyptian Origins. Newbury Park, CA: Global Publications.
  49. Proclus. 1985. Proclus: Vol. 1 of Platonic Theology, trans. Thomas Taylor, ed. Harris R. Baine. Kew Gardens, …
  50. Ratcliffe, Krista. 2005. Rhetorical Listening: Identification, Gender, Whiteness. Carbondale: Southern Illino…
  51. Reames, Robin. 2018. Seeming and Being in Plato's Rhetorical Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  52. Rickert, Thomas. 2013. Ambient Rhetoric: The Attunements of Rhetorical Being. Pittsburgh: University of Pitts…
  53. Rinella, Michael Anthony. 2000. “Supplementing the Ecstatic: Plato, the Eleusinian Mysteries and the Phaedrus…
  54. Rowe, Christopher J. 1989. “The Unity of the Phaedrus: A Reply to Heath.” Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosoph…
  55. Rowe, Christopher J. 2009. “The Charioteer and His Horses.” In Plato's Myths, ed. Catalin Partenie, 134–47. C…
  56. Rutherford, Richard B. 1995. The Art of Plato: Ten Essays in Platonic Interpretation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard …
  57. Ryan, Paul. 2012. Plato's Phaedrus: A Commentary for Greek Readers. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
  58. Selzer, Jack, and Sharon Crowley, eds. 1999. Rhetorical Bodies. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
  59. Slaveva-Griffin, Svetla. 2003. “Of Gods, Philosophers, and Charioteers.” Transactions of the American Philolo…
  60. Smith, Andrew. 2007. “Plotinus and the Myth of Love.” In Texts and Culture in Late Antiquity: Inheritance, Au…
  61. Stewart, Douglas J. 1965. “Man and Myth in Plato's Universe.” Bucknell Review 13 (1): 72–90.
  62. Stoeber, Michael. 1992. “Phaedrus of the Phaedrus: The Impassioned Soul.” Philosophy and Rhetoric 25 (3): 271–80.
  63. Ustinova, Yulia. 2018. Divine Mania: Alteration of Consciousness in Ancient Greece. New York: Routledge.
  64. van den Berg, R. M. 1997. “Proclus: The Myth of the Winged Charioteer.” Syllecta Classica 8:149–62.
  65. van Groningen, B. A. 1958. La composition littéraire archaique grecque: Procédé et réalisations. Amsterdam: N…
  66. Werner, Daniel. 2012. Myth and Philosophy in Plato's Phaedrus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  67. Wiitala, Michael. 2010. “Negating the Image: The Apophatic Character of Philosophy in Plato's Phaedrus.” Kine…
  68. Yunis, Harvey. 2005. “Eros in Plato's Phaedrus and the Shape of Greek Rhetoric.” Arion 3rd ser. 13 (1): 101–26.