Euthyphro: The Exchange Between Socrates And A Man

The Euthyphro is an example of early dialogue of Plato's: it is brief, deals with a question in ethics, this is a dialogue which took place between Socrates and Euthyphro who claims to be an expert in a certain field of ethics, which ended prematurely. It is also puzzled with Socratic irony, the irony is present because Socrates is reckoning Euthyphro as the teacher when in fact Socrates is teaching Euthyphro. Socrates poses as the ignorant student wishing to learn from a supposed expert, when in fact he shows Euthyphro to be the ignorant one who knows nothing about the subject on which they are discussing, which is piety and impiety. This setup is necessary in order to encourage Euthyphro to bring forth and evaluate the arguments being formed by him, and thus to lead him to see their faults for himself.

In Plato 's Euthyphro, Socrates and Euthyphro discuss the nature of piety. Euthyphro first proposed that piety is that which the gods love. His proposal was quickly objected by Socrates though, since the gods often disputed amongst themselves and therefore what one loves can be what another hates. Euthyphro then revised his hypothesis to say that piety is that which the gods love unanimously and for the moment this was their conclusion. This definition however, that piety is what the gods love unanimously, further proposed the question of whether the gods love the pious because it is pious or whether the pious is pious solely because the gods love it. If it is true that the gods love the pious because it is pious then the definition of

Socrates and Euthyphro cross paths one day at the courts of Athens. At the time, Euthyphro was there to prosecute his father for murder. Socrates takes the opportunity to ask Euthyphro what the meaning of piety is. In this paper, I exam the issue at hand, how Socrates uses his question to doubt Euthyphro’s thesis, and give an explanation as to what this question means for someone who maintains that God is the origin or foundation of morality.

Finally i will have to tell you who is this man you are falsely accusing today. Even though we all, men of Athens, hates Socrates’s way of seeing and doing things and the way he embarrassed our greatest men of Athens in public. But the past had proven to us that he is a good wise man that rarely been mistaken in term of what was good for Athens. Moreover, one event that we cant forget is the trail of the 8 Generals where he oppose the exception of the 8 men. Even though he was threaten to take the same fate as theirs. Athenian thought he was crazy back then and ordered to execute the 6 Generals they have at hand and the same fate awaits for those who fled. However, few years later Athens needed as much strong men as they can get so they dropped

At first, the irony of Socrates’ question is confusing, and it is never fully answered within the text, but it does force one to think deeper than typically done. That was surely Socrates’ goal in asking the question – to make Euthyphro rethink his ideology before making a life-altering decision. Prior to their conversation, Euthyphro was planning on prosecuting his own father on a questionable charge of tying up a slave and leaving him to die. Socrates initially compliments Euthyphro, stating that most people would not have it in them to be to prosecute their own father, no matter the reason, so Euthyphro’s ability to do so must mean he is much wiser than the average person (4). Euthyphro agrees, which is what leads to Socrates’ question – the Euthyphro Paradox.

Socrates is brought to trail before the citizens of Athens, accused of not recognizing the gods that are recognized by the state. Euthyphro is brought to prosecute his father for murder. Before the trails, they discuss the definition of piety and what the difference is to impiety. Instead of a straight forward answer Euthyphro explains his position on prosecuting his father. Although his father murdered a murderer that fact that Euthyphro knew what his father had done. It would have impious of him to sit back and pretend his father was innocent of such a thing. Euthyphro also discusses the relation to Zeus castrating Cronos for devouring his children. Providing a point that no matter who you are, he who is unjust must get punished. As Socrates finds it difficult to believe such stories his finds himself questioning wether to believe or not. Socrates is in search of a direction definition as to what exactly is piety.

In “Euthyphro”, Plato dictates to readers a conversation between Socrates and Euthyphro as Euthyphro is exiting the courthouse in Athens. At this point Socrates has been trialed and charged with the crimes of impiety and corrupting the youth he taught, of which included Plato himself, who recorded all of Socrates’ conversations and later founded one of the first universities of the western world. Socrates challenged many of the ideas of his time and in doing so, gathered together as many experts on as many fields as he could find and asked them each to defend what they knew. What triggered this was the Oracle of Adelphi telling him he is the ‘wisest man’. This made very many people unhappy because he had such a strong influence over the youth he taught and lectured to,

As Socrates encounters Euthyphro outside the court of Athens they converse about their reasons for being there. Socrates informs Euthyphro that he has been called to court on charges

He says by learning from Euthyphro he could strengthen his argument in court and claims it would give him a possible appeal in court by saying he was under the tutelage of Euthyphro, an expert in his field, and that by challenging Socrates Meletos would be insulting and challenging the teachings of Euthyphro. It is through this method that Socrates poses as the willing and eager student and Euthyphro the wise teacher. Euthyphro first presents the argument, which by all accounts due to his proclaimed expertise he believes to be absolutely and irrefutably the truth, that holiness is the practice of persecuting religious offenders. Socrates disagrees with this notion saying there are many other holy deeds besides persecuting religious offenders. Euthyphro suggests holiness is what is agreeable with the gods to which Socrates cleverly explains that the gods often quarrel mirroring that of humans in the sense that the opinion of one may not be the shared opinion of all.

“What exactly is holiness?”—This is a question that was brought up in Plato’s infamous “Euthyphro”, which addresses the question of what is holy and unholy through the interactions and conversation between Socrates and Euthyphro. Before diving into the analysis and evaluation of the conversation that occurs between the two, it is necessary to first develop a background between the characters. Euthyphro can be classified as an arrogant and somewhat idiotic priest who is awaiting a trial to prosecute his own father for the murder of a slave. It is at the entrance of the law courts that Euthyphro encountered Socrates, a well-recognized interpreter of religion and theology. Socrates notices Euthyphro and converses with the man. Socrates has one main goal that he hopes to achieve through this conversation: To discover the definition of the holy. It is from this point onward that the essay will cover analysis of the conversation in greater detail, uncovering the philosophy of holiness.

One of the most interesting and influential thinkers of all time was Socrates, whose dedication to careful reasoning helped form the basis for

At the beginning my impression was that they were two friends making idle chat in front of the king-archon’s court. But, then as the dialogue went on it delved into a more serious discussion when Euthyphro explained his reasons for prosecuting his own father. When Socrates continued the dialogue it seemed to revolve more around the definition of piety, and what is pious and pious. However, as Socrates continued to try to understand the difference using different analogies, it became harder for me to tell if he was honestly asking or just sarcastically talking around the subject until Euthyphro was the one asking him what he meant. I mean Euthyphro said “Nay, Socrates, I shall still say that you are the Daedalus who sets arguments in motion;

Throughout the essay Euthyphro, Socrates and Euthyphro are in disagreement as to “the nature of the holy,” what the holy and unhloly are. Socrates states, “Out with it now, and tell me what the holy and unholy are” (12, 11b9-10). He then once again states, “So, once again, what are you saying that the holy and unholiness is?” (15, 14c8-9). Socrates is seeking a universal definition against which all actions can be measured, the essence of the thing in question; in this situation it would be “what the holy and unholy are” (12, 11b9-10).

Today in class we continued our discussion on the idea of knowledge. We discussed the conversation between Socrates and Theaetetus and how they distinguished between giving examples and a true definition of a word. For example, you would not define a car as a Chevy, tesla or ford, but rather a machine built to get a person from one place to the next. The same concept was used when Theaetetus discussed the differences between a shoemaker and a carpenter. Socrates was unpleased with the definitions thus responding, “you (Theaetetus) gave me examples not definitions.” Knowledge itself was left undefined. I found this text and concept quite interesting. After, we were asked to define a word such as shoe. What is a shoe? In my group, we discussed

In Plato’s Euthyphro, Socrates and Euthyphro had a conversation about piety. During the conversation, Socrates raised a question which was a challenge to the Euthyphro’s definition of piety. Also, this question is a challenge to the theists’ view of divine command theory. I agree with the arbitrariness objection which succeeds giving a good reason to theists to reject the divine command theory. This objection indicates that the arbitrariness of God’s commands contradicts to the fundamental attribute of God, and God’s commands are unable to make an act morally good or bad.