Euthyphro Dilemma Research Paper

Rachel Kim

PHIL 100

Professor Thibodeau

November 10, 2016

The Euthyphro Dilemma The Euthyphro Dilemma is the questioning of the relation between God and righteous actions. Option A is that the pious is loved by the gods because it is pious. Option B is that the pious is pious because it is loved by the gods. Although these two options may sound similar, they are different because they have different consequences. I think that Option A is better because the outcome of Option A is better than the outcome of Option B. Option A says that righteous actions are loved by the gods because they are righteous. If Option A was true, then it would mean that God doesn’t decide what is right and what is not. This means that God is not able to set the standards for what is righteous and that he only has the power of saying what he loves and what he does not. From this we can conclude that God is all- good but, not all-powerful because he simply loves things that are already right. If Option B was true,

A little boy, Andy, and his mother are at the park. Andy’s mom tells Andy that it is dangerous to run down the slide. In this scenario Option A would be that Andy’s mom tells Andy that this action is dangerous because it is dangerous. Option B would be that this action is dangerous because Andy’s mom says it is. Option A means that even if his mom did not tell him that running down the slide is dangerous it would still be a dangerous action. Option B would mean that if his mom did not tell him that running down the stairs is dangerous then it would not be dangerous. In this scenario Option A is better than Option B because we know for a fact that running down a slide is dangerous, whether or not Andy’s mom says it is. This helps prove my point that Option A is better in the Euthyphro Dilemma because like the example above we know that lying and stealing is not righteous whether or not God says it