Abstract

Eros in Phaedro is ethical and philosophical but it’s also Mania and irrationality. Its madness is given both by the god from whom one is possessed in the celestial never ending stream of souls and by its passionate strength originating from the beauty present in “this world” desire, along with the homesickness and desire of beauty the soul enjoyed in its previous mortal and transcendent life. Therefore, is Eros who pushes Psyquè to reacquire her wings when the beloved earthly beauty appears to her. In Phaedro, this is a constitutive stop of Plato’s self critic, who in other dialogs only gave desire and emotions to the body. Eros in Phaedro, the same through whose nature the philosopher rises to sublime ideas is also the cause of the important value passions, feelings and self love acquire now, concomitantly Plato introduces a new conception of madness