Euthyphro

The Euthyphro

by Plato

Euthyphro, one of the many dialogues written by the Greek philosopher Plato documenting the quest for wisdom by his mentor, Socrates. The time that The Euthyphro takes place is preceding a trial that Socrates is in concerning some allegations that he was corrupting the youth of Athens, and ultimately leads to his demise. But it is a very important dialogue due to how it shows the methods Socrates used to try to gain wisdom, and gives some insight on his and or Plato's view on holiness altogether. In all, the Euthyphro is a display of how the Socratic method of obtaining wisdom works and it enters into what Socrates and Plato define holiness as.

The dialogue begins with Socrates and Euthyphro coming across one another in front of the court house in Athens. Both are surprised to see each other at such a place and Euthyphro is the first to inquire why the other is there. Socrates replies saying he is being prosecuted for corrupting the youth and falsifying new gods by Meletus, a young politician who thinks of Socrates in this way. Socrates half heartedly jokes about this happening by making fun of Meletus's appearance, and states that he thinks the excellence of the youth should be a prime concern. Euthyphro says that he too has encountered some opposition due to some of his divine thoughts are often disbelieved as well and Socrates will just have to weather the storm. Socrates then inquires why Euthyphro has come before the court, with Euthyphro replying that he is prosecuting his own father for murder. Socrates is astounded that Euthyphro would do such a thing with it being a very bold thing to do in that day, and says that Euthyphro must be an expert in these matters to be able to do such a thing. Euthyphro responds by saying he is an expert in matters such as this and says that even though the man killed was not a family member, but the fact that a man may have been wrongfully slain should be the matter at hand and should be acted upon. He goes on t say that the man killed was one of his servants who had gotten drunk and killed another servant, when caught, Euthyphro's father threw the man in a ditch and left to go get a judge of some sort. In the time his father was gone, the man died of exposure, thus putting the blame for this death, in Euthyphro's mind, in his father's hands. Euthyphro's family is angry with him for defending a murderer, but he thinks he knows better because of his knowledge about what is holy and unholy. This leads Socrates to ask Euthyphro his definition on what is holy because it could come of use to him in his own trial.

With some gloating about his expertise in the subject of religion, Euthyphro gives Socrates his first definition of what holiness is. He says that prosecuting those who commit crimes is holy, and not doing so is unholy. He says that the main Greek god, Zeus, imprisoned his father Kronos for castrating his father Uranus. To him this justifies his prosecuting his father. Socrates responds to this statement by using his infamous questioning form to criticizing what is said. He says that this is just an example of a holy act and that there are many other things one can do that are holy. He says there must be a more complete definition of holiness and Euthyphro agrees realizing how shallow an answer that was.

Euthyphro then comes up with a second, more general definition of holiness. This time he says holiness is what is agreeable to the gods. Socrates at first likes this definition because it solves the problem of the first definition being too narrow. But when Socrates thinks about this one, he eventually finds problems with it as well. He says that even the gods disagree and quarrel with one another all the time. Euthyphro replies by saying that surely the gods agree that the unjust killing of a man is unholy and should be punished. Socrates refutes by saying that that is not what is in question and that yes they do agree on factual things. He says that the question is that they do not always agree with what is just and what is unjust, each has their own opinion, and if this is true that they must not agree. Socrates uses his method to get Euthyphro to question his decision on prosecuting his father. This leads Euthyphro to change his definition up yet again.

The third definition of holiness Euthyphro gives Socrates is that it is what is approved of by the gods, slightly differentiating from the last one. Socrates pounces on this as well. His argument against this one is a little more complicated and I am not sure I have it right. I believe Socrates is saying that how does one know if something is holy just because it was approved of by the gods. Did the gods approve of it because it was holy or is them approving it what makes it holy? This question perplexes Euthyphro and in desperation he just says that Socrates is manipulating his arguments and making them not get anywhere. Socrates replies to this by saying that he is just asking questions and it is Euthyphro's answers that aren't getting anywhere. He then tries to help