Reflection on November 5, 1980

https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb46.htm

I am not familiar with Plato, but SJPII tries to give us a brief idea of what he saw as Eros. We have an inner power that draws us toward the good. I thought this sounded a lot like Aristotle’s Ethics. Here is the first line from that. “Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.” All of our actions have in mind some good. That is natural to us. We rely on our senses to begin because that is easier for us, they are tangible for our understanding. But these senses are not enough and lead us into the world of ideas, where Plato says we are aimed at. This longing for the good outside of our senses is what Eros (in what I can gather) means to Plato.

The modern shift has defined Eros as a look of sexual desire alone and I think you can read that SJPII believes the modern world sees Eros as a look of sexual desire that is reducing as well, as compared to a look of desire that is acceptable and in line with experiencing the other in a way that God envisioned. SJPII thinks Christ view on this look is much closer to Plato’s understanding. The look itself can be positive and we were made with our femininity and masculinity that included a desire that would lead to procreation and reproduction. It is the intentionality that twist this desire and if you look with a reductive intent, I think Plato would say, you are not looking with a goal towards the good.

I also heard an explanation that this comparison with Eros and Ethos goes like this. Eros is the look with desire. Ethos is the guide to determine whether that look is a good or evil, whether it is in line with the intent of God’s creation or is for the purpose of reducing the other to an object.

I think it is so interesting when you look at someone like Plato or Aristotle, those that were years before Christ, and yet their reasoning does not, at least here and many other things I have read about them, conflict with Christ teaching. It gives us confidence that we should not be afraid to explore philosophy and the study of reasoning. It is a science and if you are searching for truth, know that God developed it before we ever discovered it. Truth found in reasoning cannot contradict God, God cannot make something that contradicts with Him.

I wonder what Plato would think about the world today. The most interesting thing is that it is likely most that he wrote, he probably wouldn’t change, which is why it is still read and studied today. I think he would enjoy and agree with much more of what SJPII writes about the body and human nature than those that might claim to be educational descendants or students of Plato’s ideas.