The Objections to Euthyphro's Definition of Piety - Philosophy Essay Sample

To get a clear understanding of Socrates and Euthyphros dialogue one has to review its contents. Socrates and Euthyphro were both in a suit which involved religious issues the former was charged with impiety while the latter was a plaintiff in a suit that can only be justified that he had the knowledge of the limits and the fundamental nature of piety.

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Socrates intended to know the meaning of piety according to Euthyphro who claimed that piety is looking after the gods while Socrates objects stating that by using the terms looking after means that when an individual is performing the piety they are trying to make the gods better.

Upon being asked what makes things pious Euthyphro said, the pious is what all the gods love, and the opposite, what all the gods hate, is the impious Thus he was proposing that all that is loved by gods is only that is pious. All that is pious is the same as what is loved by the gods.

Socrates disagrees with that statement claiming that discords among the gods crop up primarily if not entirely when they differ in judgement such that what is defined as fair by one god may be defined as unfair by another. By proposition, the pious is acquiesce able to the gods but the impious is not. If then we assume, as Euthyphro does, diversity of judgement among them, the same conduct, and therefore the pious and the impious ,must be equally agreeable to the gods. He claims that the impious is the repeal of the pious. Socrates asked Euthyphro,if the pious is loved by the gods because it is pious, or is something pious because it is loved by the god?

Socrates wondered whether the god regarded something as pious because they loved them or they just loved what they did and because they loved them they dubbed them as pious. So if we regard things as pious it means we do so because the gods love them. This then concludes that what is pious depends on the subjective notion of the gods. For instance, if the gods love or do not love is as subjective as whether an individual tends to like or dislike a particular snack or not. Defining the piety as what the gods love does not really help in figuring what piety really is. If we solely define pious and impious independently of what the gods love then their roles end up being diminished.

That which is loved by the gods is god beloved which means that Euthyphro contradicted himself .What is loved by the god is god beloved which is exactly the same and is also different at the same time. The gods love the pious because the pious is pious not for any particular reason. Euthyphro said that what the gods love that is the god-beloved is just loved by the gods only because they love it not with a tangible reason. This concludes that what is considered as pious is for a different reason as what is god beloved.

Euthyphro protests that no god would argue that the guilty should not be punished. But if the gods cannot really have an agreement on the impious how will they know whom to punish and who really deserves the punishment?

Socrates retorts that, Neither is a man; the question in every instance is whether someone has been at fault, and who?The first point that can therefore been derived according to Socrates is that all gods agreed in declaring Euthyphros behaviour as just and that of his father unjust. Plato gives us an allusion if religion and mythology are to become determiners of morals then polytheism should succumb to a realistic monotheism.

To examine the definition reasonably it is hence modified : piety is what the gods love while in contrast, impiety is what all gods hate. Socrates then proceeds to state that even the second definition does not present the real meaning but just a plain inadvertent aspect of piety.

Euthyphro has different answers to the question of what is pious. This shows that he has no vivid explanation of what he believes to be pious and impious. According to Euthyphro, his actions to bring his father to court prove him to be pious but the actions of his father are impious. Apart from Euthyphro,the people who were involved in war, official cases in Athens and politics also do not have a good grasp of the nature of piety and what it really means. They may also have been as confused as Euthyphro.

The gods love a thing simply because the thing is pious. This means that there is a specific quality that makes a thing pious. If we human beings need to be pious then we should identify this quality and also a valid reason as to why it is worth abiding by this quality that makes us pious. The gods loving something makes it pious. If it is a constant factor that makes the gods love something for it to be pious we should know but if it is a variable factor then we should ignore as it will be the rise of disagreements among ourselves.

References.

Bumyeat M.E.Ancient Philosohy 17-the Impiety of Socrates(article).Mathesis Publications, 1997 Fernandes,Phil.All Men Thirst For God.Institute of Bibilical Defense,1997.

Plato.Five Dialogues translated by G.M.A.Grube (2nd ed.).Hackett Publishing,Inc.,2002