Document Type
Honors Thesis
Abstract
Society is governed by a set of social norms and schemas. Deviance, or transgressing these values, usually results in a loss of social status or even possible stigma. However, there are situations where the transgression does not negatively impact social status and may at times actually increase prestige and social power. Plato describes several such examples where the individual had abandoned rationality and should be considered insane, but where that madness was ultimately beneficial. He separated these forms of madness from ‘common’ madness caused by disease and argued that they were divinely inspired. Though often viewed in a classic context, careful examination reveals that Plato was describing traits that were not bound to Greek culture, and in fact occur across many cultures and time periods.
Publication Date
5-1-2018
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Dubhrós, Jeremy, "DEVIANCE AND THE DIVINE MADNESS" (2018). 2018 Spring Honors Capstone Projects. 36.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/honors_spring2018/36