Piety As Depicted In Plato's Euthyphro
In the reading Euthyphro, Plato’s end goal is to show that there is no rational relationship between “the pious” and “to be loved by the Gods.” The point of Socrates argument is that he is ultimately asking Euthyphro to explain piety by questioning the characteristics of something that is loved. Is something loved because it is good, is it loved because it is popular, what makes something loved?
The basis of the argument arises when Socrates asks Euthyphro to define the means of something that is holy and unholy. Euthyphro tells him that what he is currently doing, prosecuting his father for killing a man, is holy and not prosecuting him would be unholy. He proceeds to justify his actions by giving the example that Zeus the “most righteous of the gods” did the same thing to his father when he swallowed his own children so it must be the right thing to do. Socrates finds claims about the gods very difficult to accept, so when Euthyphro further defines something that is loved to be something that is …show more content…
Socrates gives additional examples of both arguments and asks Euthyphro which one he finds to be true. Euthyphro ends up agreeing to both of the arguments even though they contradict each other, concluding that the primary definition that piety is loved by all gods can not be true. Socrates then further asks what the pious and impious are after Euthyphro says the pious has the quality of being loved by all gods but has yet to define what the pious is. Euthyphro then claims he has no way of defining this for Socrates because every claim will just keep coming back in a circle. In conclusion, piety cannot be defined as what is loved by all the gods because there more components to piety and love is only a quality it is not what makes it
The basis of the argument arises when Socrates asks Euthyphro to define the means of something that is holy and unholy. Euthyphro tells him that what he is currently doing, prosecuting his father for killing a man, is holy and not prosecuting him would be unholy. He proceeds to justify his actions by giving the example that Zeus the “most righteous of the gods” did the same thing to his father when he swallowed his own children so it must be the right thing to do. Socrates finds claims about the gods very difficult to accept, so when Euthyphro further defines something that is loved to be something that is …show more content…
Socrates gives additional examples of both arguments and asks Euthyphro which one he finds to be true. Euthyphro ends up agreeing to both of the arguments even though they contradict each other, concluding that the primary definition that piety is loved by all gods can not be true. Socrates then further asks what the pious and impious are after Euthyphro says the pious has the quality of being loved by all gods but has yet to define what the pious is. Euthyphro then claims he has no way of defining this for Socrates because every claim will just keep coming back in a circle. In conclusion, piety cannot be defined as what is loved by all the gods because there more components to piety and love is only a quality it is not what makes it