Euthyphro Dilemma

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Socrates and Euthyphro sought after the definition of piety and impiety. In Euthyphro’s attempt to explain the terms, he gave examples of the gods and what they believed was pious or impious. Still determined to hear the definition rather than examples, Socrates realized to define piety and impiety, we have to first answer the question of “Is the pious being loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?” – Known as the Euthyphro dilemma. It is termed “dilemma” because the question makes you choose between two options, both of which are unfavorable to theism. Either God is not good or God is not sovereign. I will discuss in more detail what the first and second horns of the dilemma mean. Then I will discuss the weaknesses of each. Finally I will explain why the first horn is the better of the two options.
The difference of the two horns is the question of order. I will refer to the horns throughout the essay as follows:
A – First Horn
(1) Something is right
(2) God believes its right
B – Second Horn
(1) God believes something is right
(2) I...

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