How much does the Church agree with Plato?

[EphelDuath]

What are the most significant deviations, other than Plato’s belief in the ancient Greek religion of course, from what the Church teaches about justice, piety, virtue, the soul, etc. and what Plato thought?

I’m aware that much of what he describes in the fictional city in the Republic is very far away from Catholicism; let’s not mention that.

 

[Charlemagne_II]

What are the most significant deviations, other than Plato’s belief in the ancient Greek religion of course, from what the Church teaches about justice, piety, virtue, the soul, etc. and what Plato thought?

This is a tough one. It’s hard to distinguish sometimes what Socrates taught from what Plato really believed. I think Plato did think of Love as the main virtue, though the pursuit of wisdom certainly ran a close second. He dedicated one whole magnificent dialog to love (The Symposium) .

Plato even agrees with the Church on homosexuality, banning it in The Laws (can’t remember which book, probably somewhere between ten and twelve, but it’s there).

It’s no surprise to me that Plato came to St. Augustine largely through Plotinus. Augustine’s own methodology is to look at a subject from every possible angle (a habit Aquinas adopted from Augustine?) … and Augustine’s discussion of the nature of “time” in the Confessions was for me more mesmerizing than almost anything in Plato.

Sorry, at my age it’s difficult to remember the deviations.

 

[EphelDuath]

Assume that everything Socrates says in Plato’s works are actually Plato’s beliefs.