Plato's Euthyphro is a complex work that was carefully written and carefully crafted to present and consider a series of arguments, as well as to force its reader to consider broader issues that are not explicitly brought to their attention in the dialogue of the text. These broader issues are brought to the attention of the reader through specific arguments made by Socrates against definitions given by Euthyphro in that, the thought process necessary to follow the dialogue brings to light questions that are entirely relevant and yet left unanswered. One such issue is the role God plays in mans knowledge of the pious. Plato never states outright, but instead allows the reader to reach on their own the conclusion that: man as an individual does not need God to determine what is holy, rather it is when mankind comes together in society that God becomes necessary as a standard against which man can judge one another. To be able to elicit such a response from the reader, Plato has to guide the logic process until such time as it is possible for the reader to continue the process on to its conclusion.
             Plato begins the reader on this path at the point when Socrates is able to convince Euthyphro to agree with his statement that "[something] is loved because it is pious, rather than pious because it is loved" (pg. 53, 10d). In order to bring Euthyphro to the point where he is willing to agree to this, Socrates (Plato) first confuses Euthyphro with a series of statements about the nature of an object. Socrates begins by stating that there are both "[things] carried and carrying, and of led and leading, and seen and seeing" (pg. 52, 10a). This is an attempt to make Euthyphro understand the difference between the action and the result of the action, the cause and the effect. Euthyphro agrees that there is a difference and Socrates launches into a very complicated and difficult to follow discourse on the fact that it is not because an...