Preview

Socrates Piety Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
251 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Socrates Piety Analysis
This series of short dialogues begins with Socrates conversing with young Euthyphro, a religious expert who is prosecuting his own father for murder. Since Socrates is charged of being impious and Euthyphro is an expert at what is and is not holy, a series of questioning ensues. Socrates asks for Euthyphro to define piety in such a way that it be universally true for all cultures at any time. This definition of piety will be the standard against which all actions can be measured to determine whether or not an action is holy. After a short series of questions and answers as to the definition of piety, Socrates finally asks Euthyphro if the pious is loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods. This
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Euthyphro's Dilemm Unrestricted Divine Command Theory
    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Euthyphro's Dilemm Unrestricted Divine Command Theory

    In the Euthyphro dilemma, Socrates questions how Euthyphro can be so certain of what actions are considered pious. Socrates asks Euthyphro the important question if “Gods love piety because it is pious, or is it pious because they love it?” (Timmons 27) Put simply, are God’s commands right because God commanded them or did God command them because they are right? In what follows, I will explain what unrestricted divine command theory tries to accomplish, why Euthyphro’s dilemma poses a few significant problems to its views, and I will argue how embracing a restricted version of divine command theory can help avoid the obstacles the dilemma sets in place.…

    • 1305 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Euthyphro And Socrates: An Analysis
    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Euthyphro And Socrates: An Analysis

    In the reading Euthyphro, it is an argument between Euthyphro (the priest) and Socrates (who is being indicted by another man). This reading is a dialogue between the two men arguing on the same topic, even though they each gave examples, they still can’t figure out the answer but going “around and around” with the original question. Since Euthyphro and Socrates gave a lot of examples during the argument, I was really confused when reading it. I couldn’t organize my thoughts on the reading. However with the example of Euthyphro persecuting his own father for “murdering” a drunk murder, I start to have an idea of what they are arguing about, in my opinion, it is a question with no right answer for. No matter which answer was given, the result…

    • 380 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Exegesis of Plato's Euthrypro
    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Exegesis of Plato's Euthrypro

    Euthyphro’s initial attempt at defining piety is really just to reiterate his plan to prosecute his father. Socrates points out that this is not a definition at all, merely an attempt to give an example of a single pious action. Socrates explains to Euthyphro that he is not interested in examples of the word, only in the fundamental characteristic of the word in order to be capable of defining it “Bear in mind I did not bid you to tell me one or two pious actions…. Tell me then what this form itself is” (6e).…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Phi/105 Socrates Research Paper
    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Phi/105 Socrates Research Paper

    Socrates who was he? “Socrates was a Greek philosopher. Socrates was born c. 470/469 B.C., in Athens”. (Wiki) In Phaedo, I understand that Socrates he has arguments that demonstrate that the soul is immortal. “If we live on after bodily death, there is no reason to fear it.” (Phaedo) However, these ideas are attributed to Socrates in Phaedo. Of course we have no way of knowing if he feared death or not. He appeared not to fear death but who knows. You hear people say all the time, "I have no fear of death"--I've even thought that to myself-- but there's no way they or myself can know that until the last few minutes of life. I think that virtually everyone will fear death at…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Plato's Euthyphro
    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Plato's Euthyphro

    Euthyphro attempts to overcome Socrates' objection by slightly amending his second definition. Euthyphro’s third definition says that what all the gods love is pious, and what they all hate is impious. At this point Socrates introduces the "Euthyphro problem" by asking the essential question: "Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?" This Socratic technique is an analogy or comparison in this instance, is used to make his question clearer. He gets Euthyphro to agree that we call a carried thing "carried" simply because it is carried, not because it possesses some special trait or property that we could call "carried". That is, being carried is not an essential characteristic of the thing carried; being carried is a state. Similarly, with piety, if defined as "what is liked by the gods.” It is liked for some reason, not just because it is liked, so that one likes it, by itself, does not make an action pious. The liking must follow from recognition that an action is pious, not the other way around. Thus the piety comes before the liking both temporally and logically, yet in…

    • 482 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Socrates Argument Analysis
    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Socrates Argument Analysis

    In this paper, I will evaluate Socrates’ argument from Phaedo for why philosophers should desire death, perhaps only secondly to wisdom. I will argue that Socrates unfairly characterizes the truthfulness of the senses, and therefore projects a pessimistic view of the philosopher’s virtue during life. This pessimism towards life in conjunction with arguments for an afterlife that liberates reason, seems to suggest that Socrates believes philosophers should desire death: a happy prospect for condemned man, but perhaps a biased one.…

    • 610 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Love In The Trial And Death Of Socrates
    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Love In The Trial And Death Of Socrates

    Another good Socrates valued was love. Some people say that Socrates was not a lover as he did not love his children. In ‘The Trial and Death of Socrates’ it is evident that he leaves his children behind and even asks the jurymen to test his own children when they grow up. It seems cruel to leave behind his children and even have them tested. To the majority, it seems that Socrates do not love. However, this is not true. Socrates has a different idea of love compared to the majority’s idea of love. Majority thinks that caring and being there for one another is love, but that kind of love dies out with death. According to Diotima in the ‘Symposium’ love is the appreciation of beauty. Socrates wanted to give this Diotima’s love to his children…

    • 323 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Socrates Idea Of Piety
    • 228 Words
    • 1 Page

    Socrates Idea Of Piety

    The idea of piety – being holy or religious – began in Euthyphro. In this dialogue, Socrates is asking Euthyphro to define what it means to be holy or religious. However, they keep going back and forth with this idea, as Socrates questions Euthyphro each time he comes up with a new definition. For instance, when initially trying to define it Euthyphro states that him fighting against his father on a murder charge is a pious act. However, Socrates rejects that idea on the grounds that it is an example, and not a legitimate definition of piety. In the next example, Euthyphro gives a slightly better definition, in which he states that piety is what appeases the Gods. While Socrates initially likes this definition better, since it isn’t an example,…

    • 228 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Euthrypho
    • 1258 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Euthrypho

    In Euthyphro, Socrates questions the definition of what is holy and pious. Euthyphro provides different definition of what pious and holy mean to him. And with each definition or answer Socrates creates a question causing Euthyphro to think and question his definition. With each question Euthyphro must explain and further divulge his definition but again Socrates questions his definitions. And with his last definition he has still not given Socrates a clear definition of piety or holiness is. Socrates debates that what is holy to one god may not be holy to another and this is true. What my definition of holy or pious may not be the same for another person. While Euthyphro does give a definition of what pious and holy is, it is not a satisfactory definition for Socrates. And with each definition, Socrates has Euthyphro giving a more precise and clear definition of what pious and holiness mean to him.…

    • 1258 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Socrates: The Innocence Of Virtue
    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Socrates: The Innocence Of Virtue

    Virtue, rather than being a teachable piece of knowledge, seems to be an innate understanding. Every person in the world, save perhaps psychopaths and sociopaths, naturally has a strong moral compass. An example that proves this idea is the innocence of children. I have never witnessed a child perform an action with solely malicious intent. Children always have some outside motivation for any hateful actions they perform, so they never do it only to hurt someone. At this point you might think that, yes, children do not do anything with only malicious purposes, but the fact remains that they continue to perform such actions. This is true, but honestly, how have children learned to do such hateful things? No child would consider cursing at anyone if they were angry, but since they observe others performing these actions, the children begin to develop the idea in their minds that doing so must relieve their suffering. It seems, then, that humans learn harmful…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Piety: Pan and the Nymphs
    • 1644 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Piety: Pan and the Nymphs

    While there are varying characterizations and notions about what constitutes piety, in Euthyphro by Plato, an attempt is made to formulate an ultimate definition for what is pious and what is impious. According to Euthyphro, the most reasonable explanation of piety is tending to the gods, showing reverence and respect for them, or ultimately, doing anything benefitting to the gods. Piety can be narrowed down into simpler terms; it consists of everything that all the gods love, while impiety is everything that all the gods hate. Socrates emphasizes the belief…

    • 1644 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Socrates Allegory
    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Socrates Allegory

    In Book VII, Socrates exhibits the most delightful and popular similitude in Western logic: the purposeful anecdote of the buckle. This allegory is intended to show the impacts of training on the human soul. Training moves the scholar through the phases on the isolated line, and eventually conveys him to the Form of the Good.…

    • 1400 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    According To Socrates What Is The Pious
    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages

    According To Socrates What Is The Pious

    Socrates is a man who relies on his manipulative tricks of rhetoric and cunning wisdom to dismantle and disprove his opponents of conversation. “What is the pious, and what the impious, do you say?” (6) Socrates asks one of these opponents, a man named Euthyphro, who is at court to prosecute his own father - an action which Euthyphro thinks to be pious. Socrates asks Euthyphro to define piety, and as he does so, Socrates uses their conversation to mock and twist Euthyphro’s words so they contradict themselves. Socrates wishes for Euthyphro to give him a general answer to the question of all things pious and impious.…

    • 453 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Is Socrates Subordinate To The Majority
    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Is Socrates Subordinate To The Majority

    Throughout the world history, the minority ought to be subordinate to the majority was long considered as an immutable rule to regulate various of society. Undoubtedly, there were a group of philosophers and scientists who maintained an opposite belief to the public, eventually fell victim to this fatuous rule and even suffered the death due to their mental conviction in the truth. Socrates, as one of the greatest philosophers in ancient Grace, still could not avoid this fate being hated among those unwise people. Although it is reasonable to understand why Socrates described himself as “gadfly”, which is excluded from the majority but always leading people head to the direction of truth and achieving happiness from the process of pursuing truth. Some people, from the current society, still hold the view that Socrates is guilty because of the social environment in ancient Greece. Nevertheless, the majority of Athen by that time should also undertake inescapable responsibilities of preventing their city becoming flourished.…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Euthyphro Dilemma
    • 1612 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Euthyphro Dilemma

    In the Euthyphro, Socrates asks the age old question about piety. This in turn is thought to reveal the fault in The Divine Command Theory. The threat posed by this dilemma is as follows; either an action is morally good because God commands it or God commands an action because it is morally good. If the first horn is admitted as being true then it gives the impression that the actions God decides to command immediately become morally acceptable. But what if someone concedes to the second horn instead? Well in doing so they would be agreeing with the notion that God commands certain behavior on the basis that it is morally good. Now the problem is that regardless of which statement one chooses to accept, they each come with their own problems. At first glance, it appears that The Euthyphro Dilemma presents a losing scenario for The Divine Command Theorist.…

    • 1612 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More