Plato's Idea of Ethics in Socrates vs Euthyphro

Euthyphro Questions

1. I agree that belief in God is the only basis for morality. The rightness or wrongness of an action has to be predicated on something outside of ourselves—some objective truth or law. If there is a law, there must be a law giver. This objective rule or law or standard or ethic is what could be called the universals or the transcendentals. They can be understood by all people. Obviously, different cultures are going to have different beliefs about what is moral to some degree because human beings are always influencing one another and shaping their societies in their own ways rather than conforming to the universal law that one can understand if one applies reason to the issue, the way Plato and Aristotle did. Just because a culture has a certain position on an action being moral and another culture has a different position on it does not in any way lessen the truth that universals exist. People can refuse to acknowledge them or argue against them all they like, just as Euthyphro does. The point is that a moral society works towards knowing the truth rather than running from the labor. Euthyphro runs from it because he senses that it might end up making him question his own sense of righteousness, and he would rather not do that. Ultimately, however, it does come back to God, for there has to be a higher power that has authored this rule that people can ascertain with their reason. This is why Socrates directs the discussion with Euthyphro toward the will of the gods, because it is a matter of conforming oneself to the will of the divinity that established the moral order or law in the first place. Euthyphro wants to twist the law to conform to his own will. That is not morality, as far as Socrates is concerned.

2. Socrates is on his way to the King Archon's court, where he will defend himself against charges brought by Meletus. Meletus accuses Socrates of impiety, specifically of not recognizing the gods acknowledged by the state, and of corrupting the youth.

3. Euthyphro is a religious prophet or seer. When Socrates meets him, Euthyphro is on his way to the King Archon's court to prosecute his own father for murder. The case against Euthyphro's father is that he had bound one of his laborers, who had killed a slave, in a ditch and left him there while he sought religious guidance on what to do. The laborer died from neglect and exposure before guidance could be obtained.

4. Euthyphro is portrayed as confident, somewhat arrogant, and somewhat rigid in his thinking. His confidence in his course of action – prosecuting his own father for murder – comes from his belief that he is carrying out the will of the gods. Euthyphro claims to be an expert in matters of piety and the divine will. He is basically under the belief that he is a good person and therefore this belief in his righteousness is what he uses to justify his actions. He is not judging his actions from an objective moral standpoint but rather from his own subjective sense of self-righteousness.

5. Irony often involves saying something but implying the opposite, often for humorous or emphatic effect. In the dialogue, Socrates uses irony when he pretends to be ignorant and in need of Euthyphro's wisdom, while actually guiding the conversation to reveal the inconsistencies and inadequacies in Euthyphro's beliefs about piety. The context of the dialogue itself is also ironic, given that Socrates, who is being prosecuted for impiety, is discussing the nature of piety and holiness with Euthyphro, who claims to be an expert on these matters.

6. Euthyphro's first definition of piety is what is loved by the gods. To support this, he refers to tales of the gods and what they have loved or approved of in the past.

7. Socrates criticizes this definition by pointing out that the gods often disagree among themselves, according to the tales. Therefore, what is loved by one god may be hated by another, leading to contradictions in what is considered pious.

8. In response to Socrates's criticism, Euthyphro refines his definition and proposes that piety is what all the gods love. In other words, an action or a person would only be considered pious if all the gods love it or them, not just some. This removes the issue of contradictions in the gods' opinions, since only what is universally loved by all the gods would be considered pious. Euthyphro's refined definition is an attempt to maintain a divine basis for morality while avoiding the problem of potential disagreement among the gods. However, it is also subject to criticism, as Socrates continues to probe its implications and consistency in the dialogue.