Euthyphro
Prophet who debated piety with Socrates in Plato's dialogue.
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via Wikipedia: Euthyphro · see source
In it, Socrates and Euthyphro try to define piety.[1] The dialogue "Euthyphro" was composed by Plato and takes place in the weeks preceding Socrates' trial in 399 BC.[1]
What happened
Socrates meets Euthyphro outside the court of the King Archon, where Socrates awaits his preliminary hearing.[2] Euthyphro is prosecuting his own father for murder, because his father bound a worker and left him to die.[3] Euthyphro's first definition is that piety is prosecuting a wrongdoer.[4] Socrates rejects this as only an example, not a universal definition.[4]
Euthyphro then says piety is what is pleasing to the gods.[5] Socrates objects that the gods disagree, so an action could be both pious and impious.[5] Euthyphro revises this to what all the gods love.[6] Euthyphro later says piety is knowledge of sacrifice and prayer.[7]
Because Euthyphro appears very confident about his knowledge, Socrates requests a definition of piety to assist in his own defense.[3] Socrates asks whether the gods love the pious because it is pious, or whether it is pious because the gods love it.[6] Socrates points out that this brings them back to an earlier definition, and Euthyphro makes an excuse to leave.[7]
What the cited sources add
Peter Geach criticized the Euthyphro dilemma for implying you must define piety before listing pious acts.[8][9] The "Essential Dialogues of Plato" edition was published by Barnes & Noble Classics in 2005.[10] Peter Geach's critique of the Euthyphro dilemma was published in The Monist in 1966.[9][8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Euthyphro" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: a Greek given name meaning "sincere"; entry "εὐθύφρων" in Liddell, Scott, & Jones, An English–Greek Lexicon. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Euthyphro" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: 2a-3c (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Euthyphro" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: 3c-5d (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Euthyphro" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: 5d-6e (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Euthyphro" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: 7a-9d (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Euthyphro" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: 9e-11b (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Euthyphro" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: 14b-16a (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Euthyphro" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Geach, "PLATO'S "EUTHYPHRO": An Analysis and Commentary", The Monist, 1966, p. 369–382 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- PETER THOMAS GEACH, "Plato’s Euthyphro", The Monist (1966), doi:10.5840/monist196650327. OpenAlex metadata CC0; paper not read. doi.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9781593082697 ("Essential Dialogues of Plato"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Euthyphro (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Euthyphro (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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