Euthyphro And Socrates Piety

A coincidental encounter outside the courts of Athens leads two men who are involved in legal matters to discuss the nature of piety. Socrates has been charged with impiety of corrupting the youth and Euthyphro is supposedly performing an act of piety by prosecuting his own father of murder. Socrates believes that the general public has a poor understanding of the meaning of piety and decides to ask what piety means to Euthyphro. In what follows, I will discuss the exchange of dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro and analyze the philosophical issues that they come across.

Euthyphro has a reputation of being a wise and divine man and Socrates wants to reveal his true image. When Euthyphro is asked what piety means he responds by claiming that it is what he is doing now, prosecuting his father. Socrates objects his answer by proclaiming that it is not a true definition and that an example is not equivalent to a definition. Euthyphro then backs up his initial response by saying that piety is what

Socrates is in a state of frustration because Euthyphro is unable to directly answer any of his questions and Socrates is in dire need of a clear response. The majority of their dialogue contains Socrates objecting to each of Euthyphro’s responses. Socrates’ uses his own method, called the Socratic method, to aspire knowledge and justify truth. Socrates held a reputation as a professional arguer. He would take a proposed definition such as a principle or definition and point out something true and get others to admit it. Basically, his attempt was to lead to a statement that one is unwilling to accept. He was able to show that these things together force you to accept something unwanted. While Socrates uses complicated objections, Euthyphro becomes unsettled and nervous and gives into Socrates’ objections by agreeing to everything he