Euthyphro And The Crito Analysis

Jason Iloulian

Professor Farley

First Paper

Oct 26-2015

Is Socratesʼ position consistent between The Euthyphro and The Crito? Does he display the same attitude towards authority in each dialogue?

The Crito is a story that Plato tells that involves the last days of Socrates while the Euthyphro involves the story that relates to Socrates trial and defense; before his ultimate judgment and death. Each story contains many consistencies. For example, his demeanor in the face of near certain death seems unshakable. Although his death is foreshadowed many times, including in dreams, Socrates does not seek to avoid his fate. He is a firm believer in justice and the rule of law and order. He believes in these concepts to the extent that he does not seek to run and hide or seek any kind of protection in the face of certain death, rather he believes that he should accept whatever judgment is bestowed upon him because it is the just thing to do.

The father killed a household servant while in a drunken state. The man tied and bound the servant’s hands and feet and then threw him into a ditch until he decided what to do next, but in the meantime, the servant died. Socrates opens a dialogue in the court about the nature of piety. He notes that the gods commonly disagree on what it pious. This is an interesting line of questioning because it focuses on the nature of piety itself. For example, if the gods love for something makes it pious, then this is problematic because do not often agree. One god may love something while another god does not for example. Therefore, the piety of a thing must not lie in the gods assertion in the object, rather the piety must result from an intrinsic value that is contained within the object. If the piety resides in the object itself, then this seems to make more sense and also explain how it could be that the gods debate the piety contain in different