Divine Madness in Plato and Hermetic Philosophy - Ficino Agrippa & Bruno

Plato is perhaps the greatest philosopher of all time. He is renowned for his wide-ranging philosophical dialogues which laid the groundwork for all subsequent western philosophers. Despite his keen use of logic and argumentation, Plato also praises a form of ecstatic knowledge brought on by four forms of divine madness of mania. Indeed, he views this form of knowledge as superior to even philosophy itself in allowing the soul to grasp the eternal truth itself. What is this madness which leads to true genius? In this episode of Esoterica we explore Plato's conception of the 'mania' and the inheritance of this concept in Renaissance Hermetic philosophers such as Marsilio Ficino, Cornelius Agrippa in his famous Three Books of Occult Philosophy and Giordano Bruno.

Recommended Readings

Plato: Complete Works - 978-0872203495
Dodds - The Greeks and the Irrational - 978-0520242302
Ustinova - Divine Mania: Alteration of Consciousness in Ancient Greece - 978-0367594268
Hanegraaf - The Platonic Frenzies in Ficino - https://www.academia.edu/1170518/The_Platonic_Frenzies_in_Ficino_2010_
Secrets Of The Heavens - http://www.rvrcd.com/shop/secrets-of-the-heavens/
Krallice - Diotima - https://krallice.bandcamp.com/album/diotima

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