The Euthyphro Dilemma
Introduction
Euthyphro Dilemma
• Socrates and Euthyphro arguing morality in ancient
Greece
• Euthyphro is prosecuting his own father because he
believes it is morally right
• Socrates asks how he would know if it was right or not.
• Euthyphro believes that if the gods say something is
right then it is, and vice-versa.
N.B. In ancient Greece they believed in a pantheon of Gods
with different characters and powers (e.g. Zeus, king of
Gods / Apollo, god of light / Aphrodite, goddess of love /
etc)
Also, we rely on the written work of Plato (a student of
Socrates to tell us what Socrates taught)
• Socrates didn’t like this idea and wanted
rational proof / argument to defend it.
• He thought there must be more to morality
than simply consensus of agreement.
• So he asked:
“Are actions right because the gods (or to
us, God) says so or do the gods (God)
approve them because they are right in
themselves?”
• This presents a number of problems…
The Euthyphro Dilemma means…
• In Greek times, the gods could
not agree on much, this meant
that what was morally right
was down to a ‘majority vote’ –
this means right and wrong are
arbitrary so it doesn’t make it
very ‘moral’
• If what is right = what God / the
gods say is right then morality
depends on whoever God / the
gods are: if they are ‘corrupt’ in
any way, then they could
condone dubious morals (e.g.
saying theft or rape are right)
• If God / the gods say that something is right in
itself, then it takes away power from God. God is
no longer the decision-maker; there is something
‘above’ him/them. This is a problem for religious
people.
• If God / the gods are removed from the process of
deciding upon morality, then we still have the
problem of where morals come from:
– If it is from within us, then it is just as arbitrary as the
gods deciding on a whim as not everyone agrees with
what is right
– If it is from ‘beyond’ us, then where / how? Even the
existence of God doesn’t answer the question as the
Euthyphro dilemma points out!
Effects of the Euthyphro Dilemma
• The question on the origin of morality is still one that
bothers philosophers today – that’s what the rest of
this unit will look at.
• The Euthyphro dilemma leaves us with the following
possibilities for the ‘origin’ of morality – none of
which are satisfactory:
– The gods / God decides (therefore arbitrary – especially if
you believe in more than one God)
– The gods / God agree with the inherent rightness or
wrongness of an action (therefore they are not ‘in charge’
of everything)
– Non-religious people = morality from within (therefore
arbitrary again)
– If we don’t know the source of morality, we can’t argue if
something is or is not truly good without proof!