Interpreting Euthyphro Essay

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Socrates was executed in 399 BCE. He was charged with impiety and corruption of Athenian youth. Before his trial he spoke with a man about the nature of piety in the hopes that his new found knowledge could help him to prove his innocence. As their conversation progresses it becomes clear that Euthyphro has trouble defining what piety and impiety are. It also becomes clear that Socrates seems to have known this all along and is actually trying to show Euthyphro that each man has his own idea of what piety is, and that there is no absolute truth concerning piety or impiety. Euthyphro is an account of a conversation that Socrates has with a religious figure before his famous trial for impiety. Upon learning that Euthyphro is bringing murder charges against his own father, for the death of a slave, Socrates decides that Euthyphro must be an authority on what is and is not pious. Hoping to learn from Euthyphro in order to appeal to those who will judge him, Socrates asks Euthyphro to share the secret of piety with him. Euthyphro begins by stating that piety is “doing as I do” (Guttengerg.org, 2008). By saying this, Euthyphro is basically stating that bringing charges against a loved one in the interest of someone as insignificant as a slave is the definition of piety. Socrates refutes this as merely an example of a pious act, and not the definition of piety. Euthyphro goes on to say that piety is doing what makes the Gods happy. When presented with the idea that there are many gods and each of them might have a different notion of what is pious and what is not, Euthyphro offers one last definition. Finally Euthyphro states that that which is pious is just to the gods, but there can also be things that are just for men but not the gods. They have returned to one of the definitions they began with, that piety is that which the gods love. Throughout their conversation

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