Lecture 8 – Euthyphro

Lecture 8 – Euthyphro Socratic Irony  Often the questioning begins with Socrates claiming that he is ignorant of the subject at hand (and of important matters such as the nature of virtue, generally). Yet, as the dialogue develops, Socrates seems to have the upper hand at every step… perhaps suggesting that he is not altogether ignorant… o 5b-c for an example o He makes the so called experts look foolish Socratic Dialectic (Elenchus)  What is F questions (justice, beauty, piety..)  Attempting to determine the true nature of different virtues  Negative Method of hypothesis elimination – locate contradictions and revise hypotheses  Test the validity of one’s beliefs  Ultimately attempts to uncover knowledge of a sound truth about the nature of virtue  Or, if not, to display one’s ignorance about the nature of virtue – one’s puzzlement rather than knowledge - Aporia What is Piety of the Pious?  Seeking a proper Socratic Definition: o “Or isn’t the pious itself the same as itself in every action” (5c-d)  Euthyphro believes his father murdered a murderer. o Controversial case because the man who was murdered by his father isn’t anywhere near as close to him as his father is o He however has an impartial view of morals – believes that those who have done injustice should be punished no matter who they are  Pious Definition 1 o Doing what Euthyphro is doing: “prosecuting those who commit an injustice…or those who’ve does some other sort of wrong” (5D)  What, according to Socrates, is the problem with this first attempt to give a Socratic Definition of Piety?  It gives an example, doesn’t say what it is  Prosecutes anyone that does wrong even if it is your father  Pious Definition 2 o The god-loved: “what’s loved by the gods is pious, and what’s not loved by the gods is impious” (6e-7a)  According to Socrates, what difficultly arises with this second attempt to give a Socratic Definition of Piety?  The gods are fickle and don’t agree  But it is a better definition  What the gods love is different  Afferdiety likes loves

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They will think different things are pious So therefor the very same actions can be considered pious and impious depending on who you ask

Pious Definition 3 o A simple amendment: “what all the gods hate is impious while what they all love is pious, and that whatever some love and others hate in neither or both” (9d)  “[I]s the pious loved by the gods because it’s pious? Or is it pious because it’s loved? “ (10a)  What is the source of the piety? Is the pious in the action/thing and that’s the reason of the love? Or is the love primary? Contrast loving and being loved: 1. Activity of loving by the gods (carrying, leading, loving) 2. Quality of a thing/act that is loved by the gods (being carried, being led, being loved). o Which is more fundamental? The activity of loving of the quality of being loved?  Socrates idea is that 10C, its because it’s loved that it is a loved thing o Is it pious because the god loves it, or does the god love it because it is pious? – Main question  The reason something is carried explains the fact that it is carried, not the other way around  Thus number 1 explains, more fundamental o The activity of loving explains the quality of being loved  The dog is a loved thing because I love it. My activity of loving it explains the quality of the dog being loved  OR I loved my car because it gives good mileage. Apply loving-activity vs. loving-quality to piety 1. The quality of being love dis explained by the activity of loving (10a-c) 2. The activity of loving is explained by some quality of the thing loved, other than it’s being loved (10a-c) 3. The gods love pious things because they are pious (10d) 4. Pious means loved by all gods: pious = god-loved [Pious definition 3] 5. The gods love pious things because they are god-loved [substitution] 6. The gods’ activity of loving pious things is explained by those things having the quality of being god-loved [contradicts (i)] 7. Therefore, pious cannot be defined as god-loved  Flaws – being loved by the gods is not essential. We want to know what is essentially pious.  Voluntarism – theory that says that the gods bestow these qualities on things. What they love is moral, what they decide they have the power to.