Euthyphro by Socrates - Assignment Example

According to “Eutyphro By Plato” (2011), Plato and Euthyphro start talking about piety when Euthyphro brings up the fact that he is prosecuting his father for the murder of a domestic servant who had, in a state of drunkenness, murdered a field worker (par. 33). Plato was mainly concerned about this because he was about to be indicted with impiety. According to “Eutyphro By Plato” (2011), Plato contended that he was being prosecuted by the state for having corrupted the youth (par. 10).

The concept of holiness takes such precedence in this conversation because, at length, Socrates is trying to understand why Euthyphro is bringing a charge of murder against his own father—especially when nowadays, probably what Euthyphro’s father did would be considered manslaughter, but that’s beside the point. The real point is that Socrates draws out this singular question into a lengthy argument about the many and diverse opinions of the Gods—and how they would agree or disagree about certain matters depending upon their respective viewpoints.

Why this is important is because we see that Socrates starts the conversation by trying to imply that it was wrong for Euthyphro to bring a charge against his father—when really he was trying to demonstrate an entirely different point to Euthyphro, which was that his logic was based more in opinion that in objectively made arguments and rational, logically-explained truths. III. Euthyphro’s Three Definitions and Socrates’s Three Refutations Euthyphro, at one point, says piety is doing what is right by prosecuting he who commits a wrong, whatever wrong it may be.

Socrates then talks about levels of crime in terms of seriousness. One of the first times Socrates asks Euthyphro about what piety actually is, again, Euthyphro has a ready answer. According to “Euthyphro By Plato” (2011), “Piety…is that which is dear to the gods, and impiety is that which is not dear to them” (par. 57). Then they get into a whole discussion about whether the inverse arguments are true. By the third time Socrates asks Euthyphro’s definition about piety, Euthyphro basically gives up, to be brief.

He states that he doesn’t really know how to describe what he means and that whatever understanding he had has left him. Mainly, it seems that what has happened here is that Socrates has ultimately stumped Euthyphro. Socrates’s logic was just too much for him to handle. That is why we see Euthyphro saying “Yes,” and “Certainly” so many times in the text. It’s almost certain that he is just agreeing so that Socrates will move on with his argument, almost childlike in the way that he tries to bait Euthyphro into trying to even dispute him.

However, Socrates’s logic is unmatched, and these three times that Socrates refutes him just prove even moreso his brilliance and unabated sparkling wit. IV. Socrates’s Goal: How One Knows It, and The Way One Can Tell Socrates asks whether “the holy is beloved by the Gods because it is holy, or holy because it is the beloved of the Gods” (par. 110). When the question is put in reverse, Socrates basically argues both sides, that