Plato’s Euthyphro is a complex work that was carefully writ
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 " . . .
This is an attempt to make Euthyphro understand the difference between the action and the result of the action, the cause and the effect. Plato implies that as an individual, man is capable of determining piety on his own. Each man knows what is best for himself, what is right and what is wrong for him. Socrates points out that those things, which for him determine piety, are also those things which cause men to have disagreements. Euthyphro agrees with Socrates, which is very puzzling. If an object possesses qualities in and of itself which determine whether or not it is pious, and it is these qualities that the gods recognize and which cause the object to be dear-to-gods or hated-by-gods, why can men not see and decide for themselves what is pious? Why not eliminate the middle man and in doing so raise not only our state of consciousness but our state of being as well? Socrates has been able to identify what he feels are the determining qualities and has convinced Euthyphro not only that such qualities exist, but that justice, beauty and goodness are those qualities. The final question that needs to be answered is whether the gods are necessary for non-philosopher only, or for the philosopher as well. The answer is that philosophers need God as much as any man needs God. This being the case, the reader is free to come to their own conclusion. This is why Plato does not come right out and say that man as an individual does not need God, or that society as a whole does. Plato gives evidence that this is the case through the charges against Socrates. It is logical then that society needs the ability to know what the gods find pious and impious through some sort of tradition which claims to reveal the gods thoughts, such as a bible or an oracle. Gods are believed to be somehow better than mankind, and beyond human reproach. In those cases it is fear that determines actions, not piety. 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 object is the result of an action that an action is performed on it, but rather that an action being performed on an object makes that object the result of that action.
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Acceptance Essays
