Socrates – The
Euthyphro
Summary
Background
 Socrates due to appear before the court
 Encounters Euthyphro who has gained reputation as religious expert
 Laying charge of manslaughter against father
 Allowed one of his workers to die without proper care and attention
 Worker had killed slave
 Father had let him die bound and gagged in ditch
 Euthyphro must have clear idea of what is holy and what isn’t
 Socratces is facing charge of lacking holiness
 Hope Euthrphro might be able to teach him
First Definition
“Well,
I say that holiness is what
I am doing now, prosecuting a
criminal”
Example – Zeus and Kronos
Refutation: An example not a
definition
Second Definition
“What
is agreeable to the gods is holy
and what is not agreeable is unholy”
Refutation: This is much better, at
least it is a general statement from
which he can argue, but objects that
Gods hold different opinions. What
one god approves of another
disapproves of.
Third Definition
“…that
what's holy is whatever all the
gods approve of, and that it opposite,
what all the gods disapprove of is
unholy.”
Refutation: Complicated argument centred on cause and effect – “Do
the gods approve an action because its holy, or is it holy because it is
approved.”
Socrates uses analogy of a carrying to get his point across.
Argues that holiness must become before the approval; in
Euthyphro’s third definition it comes after the approval; it is a
consequence of the approval – therefore flawed
Fourth Definition
Socrates gives this definition – Holiness is a division of
justice, but what precise kind of division is it.
“If what’s holy is a division of justice, it seems that we
must then discover the precise kind of division of the just
that is holy”
truthfulness
Just or morally good actions
bravery
holiness
Fifth Definition
“Well,
I believe that this is the part of the
just which is pious and holy, the one
concerned with looking after the
gods…”
Refutation: Socrates objects. ‘Looking after’ implies that performing
a holy action would somehow improve the gods – dangerous (hubris)
Euthyphro claims that caring for gods involves service, like a slave
to a master
Socrates questions him on what exactly the end product of this
service is
Sixth Definition
“…if
one knows how to do and say things
gratifying to the gods in prayer and
sacrifice,…”
Refutation: Sacrifice is making a donation to the gods
while prayer is requesting something from them. Holiness
is a sort of trading between gods and men.
BUT – What benefit would gods get from trading.
Euthyphro replies gratification is what they get
They have come full circle – holiness is what is
pleasing or gratifying to the gods (approved)