Socrates and Euthyphro are having a conversation about piety. Euthyphro believes that he knows the meaning of piety. He accused his father of murder and is bring his father to court. Sounds pious? Anyway his father has caught a slave stealing and had tied the slave up and left him in a ditch while he goes to press charges on his slave. When he returned, the slave had died in the ditch. Euthyphro believed that it was wrong and decided that he has to press charges against his father. 5 definitions of piety that Euthyphro brought us through that lead us nowhere.
Definition 1 - Piety is prosecuting unjust people.
Definition by example = bad as it will be uninformative due to the simple fact that pious acts doesn’t always just involve unjust people.
Definition 2 - What’s pleasing to God.
However, this leads to internal inconsistence. There’s different Gods and they what 1 God agree might be disagreed by another God. Contradictory isn’t it?
Definition 3 - What all Gods Love
Wait. Pious acts are loved because they are pious or are they pious because that are loved.
Euthyphro believed that God loves the acts therefore they are pious. The search for the definition continues. All pious acts are just/moral acts but not all just acts are pious acts. Therefore, pious acts are a subset of just acts.
Definition 4 - Pious acts care for the Gods
Socrates: Trainer and horse kind of care? Doesn’t this makes God beneath us?
Socrates: Master and slave care? Where we care for our master?
Socrates: This leads to what do we help Gods do?
This eventually leads to a lot of other problems like
Socrates: What are functions of Gods? What does Gods do? Purpose of Gods?
Euthyphro eventually gives up this trend of thought and gave a new definition instead.
Definition 5 - Praying to the Gods and sacrificing things are pious acts
Another definition by example. Great.
Socrates: What are we giving to the Gods?
Euthyphro: Honor and Praise
Socrates: Why does God wants these things? Is it because they love it?
Looks like we are back to acts are loved because they are pious or are they pious because that are loved.
I got to go. See you later. What a state of confusion…
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