Euthyphro

In this early dialogue of Plato's, the Athenian citizen of the title and Plato's famous teacher and textual voice Socrates discuss the nature of piety and impiety in front of the Athenian courthouse. When Socrates asks what piety is, Euthyphro responds, "Piety is doing as I am doing; that is to say, prosecuting any one who is guilty" (Jowett, 1994). Socrates has his doubts; the man Euthyphro is prosecuting is his father. Yet it is not an emotional issue that Socrates objects to, but rather a logical flaw in this definition of piety that the dialogue centers on.

Socrates continues to tease out a more specific definition of piety; Euthyphro finally aggress that what he is doing is pious because it would please the gods (Jowett, 1994). Socrates points out, however, that the gods are not consistent in their beliefs, just as men are not, and that therefore this definition of piety is completely subjective and therefore irrational (Jowett, 1994). Dr. Bob Zunjic also points out that Euthyphro's knowledge and wisdom is inherited, whereas Socrates' is personal and derived only from his own rational ruminations (Zunjic). This increases the subjectivity and decreases the rationality of Euthyphro's definition.

Ultimately, neither Socrates nor Euthyphro are able to come up with an objective definition of a pious act. Agreeing that what all the gods like is pious, what they all hate is impious, and what some like and some hate is neither pious nor impious, many acts -- such as Euthyphro's prosecution of his father and Socrates' alleged corruption of the Athenian youth -- fall into this gray area (Jowett, 1994). Ultimately, this dialogue proves that the nature of morality is almost entirely subjective. Piety and impiety cannot be defined in an objective and logical way, and therefore these terms reflect only personal beliefs.

References

Jowett, B. (trans) (1994). Euthyphro. Retrieved 9 February 2009. http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/euthyfro.html

Zunjic, B. Plato: Euthyphro. Retrieved 9 February 2009. http://www.uri.edu/personal/szunjic/philos/euth.htm