Euthyphro Case

EUTHYPHRO

Heather Brown

Phi 208

Instructor: Davenport

January 26, 2012

EUTHYPHRO

The dialogue is set near king-archon's trail for different things. Euthyphro's father is on trial for the court. Both men are on murder of a slave the he did not do. And Socrates is on trial for corrupting youth Athens. Socrates is hoping to learn from Euthyphro's in his father's trail. Holiness emerges in the dialogue because Euthyphro's is prosecuting his own father which he thinks is pious the right thing to do. Euthyphro's spends little time or effort defending the conventional view of the gods. Instead, he led straight to the real task at hand, Socrates ask Euthyphro's the definition of "piety". Yet with every definition Euthyphro's proposes, Socrates very quickly finds a fatal flaw (6d ff.). The definition that Euthyphro's first offers is piety what is he doing now; he is prosecuting his father for manslaughter (5d). And not to prosecute is impiety. Socrates rejects this definition because is not the definition; it is only: an example or instance of piety. It does not provide the fundamental characteristic which makes pious things pious. Euthyphro's definition of piety for the second time Is what is pleasing to the gods (6e-7a). Socrates applauds this definition because it is expressed in a general form, but criticizes it on the grounds that the gods disagree among themselves as to what is "pleasing". Socrates still thinks that Euthyphro's definition piety is not a definition. Euthyphro's attempts to overcome Socrates objection by slightly amending the second definition (9e). So the third definition reads: What all gods' love is pious, and what they all hate is impious. At this point Socrates introduces the "Euthyphro's dilemma" by asking the crucial question? "Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious? Or is it pious because it's loved by the gods (10)?" So both Socrates and Euthyphro's both accept the option: The fact that the gods love (something) cannot explain why the pious is pious.(10d). Euthyphro's then offers to tell Socrates about the gods so when mellitus questions him he will have some kind of knowledge about gods. But then again as you read more you come into holiness which Euthyphro's thinks there is no meaning for holiness. In the definitions that really stuck out in this whole reading was piety. I think Socrates goal is to learn through Euthyphro's so he can use Euthyphro's techniques. The goals of Socrates (and Plato) were often of a more fundamental nature,