ipl-logo

Definition Of Piety In Plato's Euthyphro

1080 Words5 Pages

In this paper I will discuss and evaluate the definitions of piety in Plato’s Euthyphro. Plato wrote this dialogue shortly after Socrates death. The Euthyphro is one of Plato’s early philosophy dialogs in which it talks about Socrates and Euthyphro’s conversations dealing with the definitions of piety and gods opinion. This dialogue begins when Socrates runs into Euthyphro outside the authorities and the courts. Socrates is there because he has been charged with impiety, and Euthyphro is there to accuse his father for the death of a man named Meletus who was a farm hard. Euthyphro wants to take his father to the authorities to charge him with murder. Socrates is fascinated that Euthyphro would accuse his own father of murder and then want to …show more content…

To me, this makes sense but there is still can be differences of opinion, what all gods despise is unholy, which would then make what the gods love be holy to them. The third definition differs from the second because problems in the second are that not all the gods are going to agree with what is dear to them and then in the third, you will be unable to know what all the gods love or what they hate. No this definition does not improve on the second because you are then still running into the same problem that you are unable to speak for the gods and decide what is either dear to them or what they can all agree is love. Although the third definition somewhat improves onto the second, it is still inadequate. This definition that Euthyphro gives still cannot be used in a argument because of the speculation or opinions that could all be formed. Everyone can have a different ideas about what the gods love or the gods hate. Another thing that could be argued is what is truly the definition of holy and unholy, again people are going to differ. Euthyphro’s third definition is partially stronger than the second but it still raises the same negative questions and differences in opinion and Socrates brings up in his

Show More
Related

  • Socrates Piety And Impiety Analysis

    499 Words  | 2 Pages

    Socrates and Euthyphro ran into each other outside the court of Athens. Socrates is there because he is charged for impiety by Meletus, while Euthyphro is there because he is prosecuting his own father for an unintentional murder of a household slave. After listening to the reason of Euthyphro’s presence at court, Socrates is flattered by him, as he thinks surely a person bringing charges against his own father must have great knowledge on piety and impiety. He thinks no one will do such a thing unless they are absolutely sure it is the right thing to do so he asks Euthyphro to teach him what holiness is and what piety and impiety is, so that it might help him in his trial against Meletus. In reply at first Euthyphro says that piety is what he is doing, prosecuting the person who offended religion by murdering, even though he is his own father.

    Read More

  • Flaw In Euthyphro's Story

    413 Words  | 2 Pages

    I like how in the story, Socrates’ concern is with the definition of holiness, which he feels Euthyphro has not yet properly dealt with. Euthyphro concedes that there are various holy deeds that don’t consist in prosecuting a religious offender. Socrates urges Euthyphro to give a more general definition and to identify a standard by which all holy deeds can be recognized as holy. Even though, in the story Socrates says that Euthyphro should teach his understanding of the laws, he doesn’t actually expect to learn from Euthyphro, but intends to lead him out of his false confidence in his supposed knowledge and toward a more humble acknowledgement of his own ignorance. Socrates’ method is not to tell him that he is mistaken in claiming to be an expert on religious matters, but rather to show him through questioning.

    Read More

  • Euthyphro's Argument Analysis

    495 Words  | 2 Pages

    Socrates and Euthyphro meet at the Agora, and begin discussing what brings them to the king-archons court. Euthyphro begins telling Socrates, that he is bringing a case against his father who murdered a servant. Socrates is astounded that Euthyphro is bringing an indictment against his father, and asks for wisdom concerning a statement of piety so that he may fight his own accusations impiety. Euthyphro first proposes that “What is dear to the gods is pious, what is not is impious.”

    Read More

  • The Argument Of Piety In Euthyphro's Irony

    567 Words  | 3 Pages

    Following traditional Socratic procedure, Socrates, in Plato’s Euthyphro, assumes the unfitting role of the ignorant pupil seeking to obtain knowledge from Euthyphro, the prosecutor and self-proclaimed expert on piety. However, as the dialogue progresses and the irony reveals itself, Euthyphro unveils his true ignorance and Socrates emerges as the wise prosecutor who questions the former on his various definitions and understandings of piety. Euthyphro, after having his previous definitions rejected by Socrates, suggests that what is pious is “what all the gods love” (Plato 9e). Immediately, Socrates deconstructs this argument and outlines a simple syntactic analysis of a phrase.

    Read More

  • Euthyphro's Definition Of Piety Analysis

    1244 Words  | 5 Pages

    Socrates was, therefore, concerned with the level of belief that Euthyphro had in himself, regarding holiness, to the extent of prosecuting his own father. During their conversation, Euthyphro comes up with several definitions of piety. To begin with, it is important to consider a few points regarding the causal and semantic because-statements. Causal statements are

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Euthyphro And Socrates

    484 Words  | 2 Pages

    HUM2225 Dr. Hotchkiss September 30, 2016 Moral Insight Plato’s Euthyphro is based on a lesson between Socrates and Euthyphro outside of the Athenian court about the definition of pious or impious. Euthyphro was surprised to see Socrates there and even more curious to find out why he was there. Socrates explained that the court was persecuting him for impiety because Meletus was spreading rumors about him corrupting the Athenian youth. Euthyphro explains to Socrates that he was there to prosecute his father for murdering a farm worker named Dionysus.

    Read More

  • Euthyphro's Definition Of Piety

    497 Words  | 2 Pages

    Socrates said that Euthyphro had previously stated that “gods are in a state of discord…and that they are at enmity with each other” (Socrates, 8). Socrates also says: “Then according to your argument, my good Euthyphro, different gods consider different things to be just, beautiful, ugly, good, and bad, for they would not be at odds with one another unless they differed about these subjects would they?... They like what each of them considers beautiful, good, and just, and hate that opposite of these?” (Socrates, 9). Euthyphro agrees, proving that certain things disputed by the gods would be both pious and impious due to the fact that different gods consider different things to be holy.

    Read More

  • Evaluating Socrates Claim In The Apology

    835 Words  | 4 Pages

    Euthyphro tries to explain him that he was doing the same as Zeus did to his father and therefore being pious. But Socrates argues that it is just an example and not an explanation. He tries again and says what gods like is pious and what they dislike is not. But Socrates points out the fallacy in that argument that one god might not agree with another to which he replies in his third attempt what all gods like is pious and what they all hate is impious. Here, in this example we can see that how he searches for a concrete and complete definition for being pious.

    Read More

  • Gods In Stephen Lutz's Argument

    176 Words  | 1 Pages

    The word ‘gods’ can be described as an idol, material object or image representing deity, or, it can be any thought or idea which withdraw the spirit of the living God from human heart as a replacement. Worshiping other “gods” is a violation of God’s commandment and it is of course a sinful act. The author of ‘king of the campus’, Stephen Lutz, talks about the people of Babel, how their ambition, desire for status and fame became their ‘gods’. When they were over stepping what God has set for them, then, he divided their language and he scattered them across the earth. Stephen Luiz wrote “these idols need to be dethroned”.

    Read More

  • How Did The Greek Gods Influence Popular Culture

    1100 Words  | 5 Pages

    Final Essay - Prompt #2 Whether comparing their impacts upon popular culture or within the modern religious landscape, the Gods of the Greek Mythos have provided a strong basis for Western Spirituality to follow. Needless to say, debates surrounding the nature of the holy world were just as widespread as those in modernity. If we have never seen what a God has looked like, how should we go about respecting such an esteemed being? When comparing and contrasting the representations of Gods under Sophocles’s Oedipus the King or Euripides’s Bacchae, the Greek Gods are demonstrated to be immovable forces directing the interests of Greek Society.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Piety In The Aeneid

    1205 Words  | 5 Pages

    The virtue of piety was a defining characteristic in Roman life, Romans carried out their everyday lives in accordance of the ideas of pietas which is one’s duty to their family, God, and people; these Roman values are displayed in Virgil’s The Aeneid through the actions of the character Aeneas, and challenged further in the Gospel of Matthew by Jesus Christ. The word “pietas” is a Latin word that means dutifulness, and refers to the balanced duty to a person’s family, gods, and people in Roman culture. The Romans believed that for these duties to be upheld then it must be implemented in one’s everyday life, and this belief of the Romans separated them from other ancient societies. In The Aeneid, Aeneas engages in all aspects of pietas throughout his journey to Italy to become the ancestor to the city of Rome.

    Read More

  • Is Euthyphro Pious In Prosecuting His Father

    715 Words  | 3 Pages

    Is Euthyphro pious in prosecuting his father? According to the Euthyphro, the main characters like Socrates and Euthyphro have their own notions about piety. The way the main characters understand piety is different from each other. The first, Euthyphro examines himself and brings evidence against his father.

    Read More

  • Plato's Defense Of Corruption In The Apology By Socrates

    961 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the Apology Socrates defends himself against the charges brought against him by his prosecutor Meletus in two ways. In the first way Socrates describes his method and

    Read More

  • How Did Socrates Corrupt The Youth

    1535 Words  | 7 Pages

    Socrates’s official new charge “asserts that Socrates does injustice by corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel” (24b, p. 73). By looking deeper into the dialogue of The Apology and Euthyphro, one can see how passionately Socrates strives to express to the Athenian people his innocence in teaching the youth and worshiping of the gods. Socrates maintains his innocence in teaching the youth for three reasons. Primarily, there is no proof or evidence from past examples in which Socrates has taught the youth because no one has come out and said so. Socrates brings up a valid point that his so-called ‘teachings’ haven’t changed over time and therefore if he is accused

    Read More

  • The Value Of Culture In Antigone By Sophocles

    958 Words  | 4 Pages

    In ancient Greece, a common saying that all citizens had in their very core, a traditional Greek principle, was this: love your friends, and hate your enemies. This rule seems pretty straightforward and would appear easy to apply in real life. However, in the timeless play Antigone, Sophocles shows his audience a situation where this maxim does not apply. Sophocles concentrates on a complex story where the values and principles of the ancient Greek culture come into conflict. Religious or moral versus secular, family versus community, and living versus dead: all of these conflicting aspects are explored in Antigone.

    Read More

More about Definition Of Piety In Plato's Euthyphro

Open Document