Abstracts

Rationale: For roughly twenty-four hundred years, epilepsy has remained a mystifying neurological disorder. Although Hippocrates sought to establish a concrete explication of what epilepsy was in Antiquity, many still believed in its "sacred powers" given by the gods. According to neurologists Muramoto and Englert, Socrates was one of many who had epilepsy. ​By re-evaluating and establishing what I shall call epilepsy epideictic rhetoric, I argue that Plato's Phaedrus disables Socrates because of the four types of madness. Methods: In this categorization, Plato positions Socrates at the top, casting him as a "disabled super-human," a role that Socrates cannot fill. Muramoto and Englert state that Socrates had partial complex seizures, during which the epileptic can characteristically feel "euphoria" or "out of body experiences." Although scholars have written extensively on Socrates's role in the Phaedrus, I argue that Plato writes Socrates as epileptic. By writing Socrates as epileptic, Plato not only "disables" him, he idolizes him and imposes forced ideals into him. By first removing Socrates from the city, I look at how Plato disables Socrates by isolating him from society. Secondly, I look at how Plato disables Socrates by analyzing the term "madness" and what it means in relation to Socrates. Thirdly, and most importantly, I look at the historical framework of epilepsy and how Socrates fits into the Phaedrus as an epileptic body. Results: By rethinking Plato's Socrates as a disabled body, but also rethinking the Phaedrus as a disabling text, I argue that rhetoricians and educators need to think how we approach the Phaedrus. Not only is the Phaedrus an important canonical work, but it sheds light on the disabled body in Antiquity, as well as how stigma toward the epileptic and the "disabled super-human" was born. Conclusions: In conclusion, I argue that since the Phaedrus is considered one of the most important of Plato's dialogues, we ought to look not only the historical ramifications, but also how it fits into Disability Studies. Since we know that Socrates had epilepsy, what did his epilepsy mean for those around him and could his epilepsy mean for for us today? As scholars, we need to know what birthed the stigma surrounding epilepsy and it's not always those who de-humanize the epileptic body; sometimes it's those individuals who idolize the disorder who further the stigma.