1.2 Plato's Euthyphro: What Is Pious? (Euthyphro's definition and Socrates' argument against it.)

Plato's Euthyphro: What Is Pious? Euthyphro's definition and Socrates' argument against it. 

Considered himself as the expert about piety, Euthyphro defines pious as "the pious is what all the gods love, and its opposite, what all the gods hate is the impious (9e).” However, Socrates' argument against his claim presented Euthyphro’s contradictory and his failure to explain what pious is. 

Socrates first showed that thing being loved by gods is not what makes the thing being pious. Euthyphro said that what’s pious is what’s god-loved. And, the pious is loved by the gods because the pious is pious, and not because of anything else(10d). Therefore, if a thing is pious, then it will cause the thing to be loved by the gods. But, if a thing is loved by gods, it does not cause the thing to be pious.  

Socrates’ second promise is that what god-loved is god-loved because it is loved by the gods (10b-d). Euthyphro agreed that a thing that is loved is loved only because someone loves it. Just like the other examples Socrates gave, the thing is carried or affected not because it is a carried or an affected thing; rather, it is carried or affected by someone(10c). 

Namely, if the gods love a thing, then it makes the thing god-loved. And, a god-loved thing is made god-loved only when is being loved by god. However, a thing that is already god-loved does not cause the gods to love the thing just like a chair is seen is because and is only because someone sees it. 

As mentioned, the pious is loved by the gods because it is pious not because the gods love it. God-loved is because it is being loved by the gods, not the same reason as to why pious is pious (10e). In other words, what makes a thing pious is different from what makes a thing god-loved. In this way, Socrates dismantled Euthyphro’s claim that the pious is equal to the god-loved.

​-- Notes, written by Heidi, April 2019; Ancient Greek Philosophy