However, Socrates would not teach daimonia if he did not believe in god. There is an inconsistency in Meletus’ indictment. Socrates points it out. He says, “you say that I do not believe in gods, and again that I believe in gods, since in fact I do believe in daimons” (Ap. 27d).
The two main charges against Socrates are corrupting the young and also not having the proper religious beliefs. Socrates is being charged by a man name Meletus, who is one of three accusers. Socrates had been accused of making the weaker argument stronger and also about things in the sky and under the earth. While being examined by the poets, craftsmen, and orators, Socrates claims that they really do not know what they think they know and is trying to prove that it’s all false. After analyzing many different texts, it seems as if Socrates could be innocent and guilty at the same time.
This leading into the definitions of piety. The first definition that Euthyphro suggests to Socrates is that piety is persecuting religious offenders. However, Socrates is not satisfied with this response because there are many pious actions that do not involve persecution. (page 5 e) The second definition that Euthyphro suggests is that piety is what is dear to the gods, and that what some gods may agree on, others may not agree on. Thus saying that what is pious may be not pious concluding in a contradiction.
Socrates eventually leads Meno to the conclusion that the act of being virtuous is given to us by the gods. Virtue is a gift humans receive from the gods and therefore it cannot be taught by a person. Meno comes to an agreement with Socrates on the issue of virtue and acknowledges that he is not knowledgeable on the subject. Here is where Meno begins to head in the right direction in the search for wisdom. When you can admit your own short comings you open yourself to accept someone else’s knowledge on the subject you are unfamiliar with.
First, he states, “In that case it’s what’s lovable to the gods that’s pious, and what’s not lovable to them that’s impious” (13). Euthyphro makes a claim that piety means to be loved by the gods. Socrates questions how something that is god-loved is pious and something that is god-hated is impious. Afterwards, Socrates comes to a new definition of piety saying, “Is it where the just is that the pious is too, or is it that where the pious is, there too the just is, without there being the pious everywhere the just is-because the pious is part of the just” (21)? Here, the definition of piety changes from being loved by gods to being just Kajol 2 or fair.
It turns out that Aristotle and Kant would give rather different answers to this question. I think that it is because we are unclear about the answer we would give that the conflict is still with us and within each of us. Briefly, Aristotle would say that he is interested in
Euthyphro Dilemma According to our understanding dilemma is a difficult situation, which leads to confusion, when two or more options are available as choices in front of us and we are forced to choose any one of them which again leads to an even more confusing state of mind. The Euthyphro dilemma is a dialogue written by Plato, the great philosopher of Greece, on the basis of the theory, originated by Socrates. “The Euthyphro is manifestly designed to contrast the real nature of piety and impiety with the popular conceptions of them” (Plato, 2008). According to this theory, Socrates told ‘Euthyphro’, a truth-seeker that which one of the statements should be followed in order to find the truth. Then he presented two set of statements as under:- 1.
The Unexamined life is worth living What does it mean to live a good life? Famous Greek philosopher Socrates once said, "The unexamined life is not worth living.” (Plato 30). By saying this, Socrates was basically stating that in order to achieve the good life, one must examine life and question the unanswered thoroughly. Some people may agree with this idea while others may strongly disagree. After giving this question much thought, I have come to a conclusion as to what I believe the good life actually is.
Much of what Socrates uses to defend himself proves otherwise; this is proven in the story of the Oracle from Delphi. What does Socrates think of the gods? Socrates seems to contradict himself on several occasions on this issue. As Socrates defends his charge of atheism proposed by his accusers, he is able to prove to one of his accusers, Meletus, that he believes in the gods. In this essay I will prove that Socrates is in fact not a religious person, but he has had to act religious all his life as so he wouldn’t ever be accused for something such as this and uses this act to completely disprove the accusations made against him.
Epictetus states that, “We are responsible for some things, while there are others for which we cannot be held responsible. The former include our judgment, our desire, aversion and our mental faculties in general; the latter include the body, material possessions, our reputation, status – in a word, anything not in our power to control ”( Epictetus 221). This is the main force behind the solution given by Epictetus. Aristotle also has his own solutions for weakness of will, but I believe his response is contradictory. Aristotle says that incontinence is brought forth by lack of knowledge of particulars due to being taken over by passions.