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Okaylee Peterson
Prof. Guile
English 1010-013
28 September 2014
You’re wrong
Socrates was a great philosopher who sought knowledge and wisdom throughout his life.
G.M.A Grube a translator of Plato’s Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno and
Phaedo said that Socrates, “mission… was to expose the ignorance of those who thought
themselves wise.” (Grube ix) In Plato’s dialogue, Euthyphro, Socrates has a discussion with a
man, Named Euthyphro, who fancies himself superior in knowledge about the subject of piety
and impiety, about the definition and meaning of piety. In this dialogue Socrates “exposes the
ignorance” of Euthyphro by use of logic.
In the beginning of the dialogue Socrates meets Euthyphro outside of the Courts of King
Archon, one of the high ranking magistrates of ancient Greece. Socrates enquires as to why
Euthyphro is there and comes to find that, Euthyphro is there persecuting his own father for the
murder of a servant who is also a murderer. His family thinks it is impious to persecute his own
father, but he does not see it that way. Here starts the discussion between the two of what piety
means.
Plato who is dictating the dialogue uses a consistent question and answer form
throughout the dialogue. Socrates poses a question, defines the parameters and then asks whether
or not Euthyphro agrees. By doing so Socrates gains a better understanding about the true extent
of Euthyphro’s knowledge on the subject matter. Once Socrates finds that out he can then
disassemble Euthyphro’s knowledge through the use of deductive reasoning. By using deductive
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reasoning Socrates takes the main idea of piety and impiety and breaks it down. Euthyphro
states, “what is dear to the gods is pious, what is not is impious.” (pg. 8) During this time in
history the belief of Greek Gods was prevalent, what the gods proclaimed was law. Socrates
takes his knowledge, and the knowledge of the land and people, that the gods fight and are often
in discord, to show that not all the gods love and hate the same things. Euthyphro then changes
his definition and the cycle continues. In the end the discussion comes full circle, to the original
statement. Socrates scolds him for having taught him nothing; his excellent use of deductive
reasoning proves that Euthyphro did not have the superior knowledge he claimed.
In the dialogue between these two men, Socrates continues to bring up certain subjects,
including Euthyphro’s father and the gods, to distract and confuse him. Socrates uses this
strategy of argument to keep Euthyphro on his toes. “Is the pious being loved by the gods
because it is pious, or is it pious because it is being loved by the gods?”(pg. 12)This is only one
example of how Socrates uses the gods to deduce the meaning of piety and keep Euthyphro on
topic. In ancient Greece to speak ill of the gods was an offense, by constantly playing around this
idea Socrates is able to keep him unbalanced. He then uses this unbalance to get to the true
nature of Euthyphro’s meaning of piety.
“What a thing to do, my friend! By going you have cast me down from a great hope I
had, that I would learn from you the nature of the pious and the impious… and my ignorance
would no longer cause me to be careless and inventive about such things.” Socrates wanted to
know the meaning of things. Socrates was very intricate about his deductions and because of this
he is able to deconstruct Euthyphro’s argument about the pious and the impious. His use of
sensitive subjects to divine meaning from Euthyphro’s argument catches him off guard and thus
shows the flaw’s and lack of knowledge Euthyphro so proudly thinks he provides.
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Work Cited
Plato, and G. M. A. Grube. "Euthyphro." Five Dialogues. Second ed. Indianapolis:
Hackett Pub., 2002. N. pag. Print.