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Euthyphro's Definition Of Piety

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According to the lecture, piety is a term that refers to what it means to be good or holy in the eyes of the gods. In the reading, Euthyphro gives several different definitions of the term piety. The definition that stood out to me the most was the one in which Euthyrphro says, “…what is dear to the gods is pious, what is not is impious” (Euthyphro, 8). This seems like a simple definition. However, Socrates objects this definition on the grounds that the gods disagree among themselves as to what is 'pleasing'. 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. I believe Euthyphro’s self-contradiction shows that he does not know as much about piety as he claims. …show more content…

According to the lecture, Socrates always asks just the right questions to make Euthyphro see that he does not really know all that he claims he knows. In other words Socrates proves that Euthyphro “…doesn’t have the knowledge of which he speaks” (Youngs’ Plato Lecture, 10:00). I feel as though that is exactly what Socrates did in this

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