Euthyphro

by

Plato

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Euthyphro Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Euthyphro bumps into Socrates on the steps of the magistrates’ court. Euthyphro expresses surprise at encountering Socrates, as Socrates is not the type of person who would be likely to press charges against another. Socrates explains that he is in fact the person being charged, by a young newcomer named Meletus. Socrates explains that Meletus is indicting him for impious behavior, alleging that he has corrupted the youths of Athens by spreading ideas that are irreverent towards the gods. Euthyphro responds in surprise that Meletus is “harming the very heart of the city” with such a charge. Socrates agrees that he intends to corrupt nobody, and his only crime is talking with people who will listen. 
The opening passage sets up the premise of the dialogue. Socrates’s explanation that he is facing a charge of impiety for irreverence towards the gods indicates the socially accepted view of piety as something concerned with the gods. Euthyphro’s expression of surprise and sympathy with Socrates encourages the reader to engage similarly with Socrates’s plight of being charged with a crime for the mere act of talking freely. In doing calling the morality of Socrates’s free speech into question, Plato implicitly raises the question of whether acting piously really means conforming to what the gods deem is proper, or if there is a more universal definition for piety.
Themes
The Nature of Piety Theme Icon
Quotes
Euthyphro explains that he is prosecuting his father for impious behavior, namely murder. Euthyphro explains that the slave in question killed another slave in a drunken rage on the family’s farm in Naxos. Euthyphro’s father bound the slave and threw him in a ditch, sending a servant to seek advice from the authorities about what to do with this slave. In the meantime, the slave died from hunger and his bonds. Euthyphro acknowledges that this case is unusual because he is not addressing the death of a family member, but the death of a slave by a member of his own family. Normally, it is considered impious to prosecute a member of one’s own family, but Euthyphro is convinced his actions are the pious thing to do.
Euthyphro’s explanation of his legal case not only establishes Euthyphro’s concern with the concept of piety, it also raises vivid thought experiment designed to pique the reader’s curiosity and engagement with the dialogue. The situation concerning Euthyphro’s father and the two dead slaves is a moral conundrum: the modern reader is likely to oppose slavery in and of itself, and Euthyphro’s father was overly negligent, but the murderous slave was also in the wrong. This dilemma helps to convey the moral grey area of pious versus impious actions that Socrates hopes to help Euthyphro (and, thus, the reader) clarify through the dialogue. Having positioned both Socrates and Euthyphro as people who are concerned with the nature of piety, Plato is now drawing the reader into the inquiry as well—a strategy that is central to the Socratic method of inquiry in which all participants in the philosophical thought experiment play an active role.  
Themes
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The Socratic Method Theme Icon
Quotes
Socrates feigns ignorance of such matters and suggests that Euthyphro must know what he is talking about if is he is so bold as to prosecute his own father. Socrates proposes that Euthyphro educate him on the nature of piety, so that he will be able to use Euthyphro’s wisdom in his own court case.  Euthyphro boasts that he can counsel Socrates on the nature of piety to such an extent that Meletus would be the one ending up on trial.
This passage sets up the dynamic of the Socratic method, in which Socrates will pose as the student (who will ask probing questions), and Euthyphro will pose as the local expert (who will communicate conventional views about piety). The reader can infer that Socrates, not Euthyphro, is the wise one in this situation, since he is only flattering Euthyphro by feigning ignorance. Socrates’s prompting of Euthyphro suggests that there is a core, universal nature of piety to be uncovered, but that this definition is not self-evident or easy to understand. One must be knowledgeable and wise to justify a clear distinction between pious and impious behavior.
Themes
The Nature of Piety Theme Icon
Wisdom, Action, and Justification Theme Icon
The Socratic Method Theme Icon
Socrates asks Euthyphro to explain the nature of piety and impiety, assuming that they are opposites, and that the same thing that makes one thing pious will make another thing pious.
It is clear from the way Socrates frames his question that he is looking for a universal definition of piety, as opposed to one that is logically inconsistent or dependent on certain scenarios.
Themes
The Nature of Piety Theme Icon
Quotes
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Euthyphro offers his first definition of piety, using his own actions as an example. He argues that acting piously is prosecuting wrongdoers, whilst failing to prosecute wrongdoers is impious. Euthyphro defends this claim by appealing to the actions of the gods, citing examples of Zeus binding his own father for unjustly swallowing is sons. Similarly, argues Euthyphro, Zeus’ father castrated his own father for “similar reasons.” Socrates flatters Euthyphro’s ego, suggesting that Euthyphro of all people knows about matters pertaining gods, but contends that Euthyphro has merely given him an example of pious behavior, and not a definition of piety that will apply to all cases. Socrates asks Euthyphro to tell him what distinguishes all pious actions from all impious actions.   
Euthyphro’s explanation of piety reinforces to the reader his belief in a concept of piety that emulates the gods. This, however, is insufficient for Socrates since it does not provide a logically sound explanation of why piety is important—only that it should be arbitrarily emulated. The method of Socratic inquiry starts to unfold as Socrates points out the inconsistencies in Euthyphro’s definition, and directs Euthyphro’s attention (and, by extension, the reader’s) away from listing specific examples, and towards articulating a universal definition of piety.     
Themes
The Nature of Piety Theme Icon
The Socratic Method Theme Icon
Quotes
Euthyphro offers his second definition of piety, suggesting that what is “dear to the gods” is pious, and what is not dear to them is impious. Socrates contends that this won’t work since many gods disagree with each other. Socrates continues that if some Gods consider Euthyphro’s actions pious, and others consider his actions impious then surely Euthyphro is claiming that the same thing is both pious and impious at the same time.
Euthyphro’s second definition again betrays his reliance on the gods when making sense of piety. Socrates’s questions direct Euthyphro (and, once again, the reader) toward a definition that is not only universal, but also unchanging (unlike the feelings of the gods). In doing so, he urges both Euthyphro and the reader to use logic to formulate their own definition, rather than relying on Socrates to give them an easy answer.
Themes
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Feigning dull-wittedness, Socrates suggests that perhaps it might be that all the gods think Euthyphro’s actions pious. Euthyphro jumps on this suggestion, and offers his third definition of piety, namely that what all the gods love is pious, and what all the gods hate is impious. Pleased with himself, Euthyphro calls this definition a “fine statement.” Socrates cautions that they ought to examine the statement to see if it is actually “sound,” or merely sounds good. 
This passage informs the reader more explicitly that Socrates is in fact, taking on the role of the teacher in the conversation. Socrates’s flattery and Euthyphro’s vanity also expose to the reader that Euthyphro has not caught on to this yet when he articulates his third definition of piety as what all the gods love. The reader can infer that Euthyphro assumes Socrates has the answer and it is his job to guess correctly. However, under Socrates’s unique method of inquiry, he is more interested in Euthyphro acting as his own teacher and thereby reaching his own conclusion.
Themes
The Nature of Piety Theme Icon
The Socratic Method Theme Icon
Socrates poses the central dilemma of the dialogue. He asks Euthyphro to explain to him if the pious is being loved by the gods because it is pious, or rather, do the gods love it because it is pious? Euthyphro is already confused, so Socrates illustrates with some examples, suggesting “loving” is not the same as the thing “being loved.” Socrates suggests that surely the gods love certain things because they are already pious (and not vice versa). Euthyphro agrees, falling into Socrates’s trap. Socrates concludes that Euthyphro has only explained something that happens to pious things and not what makes them pious in the first place.
The central dilemma of the dialogue as posed by Socrates is designed to explicitly draw the reader in, allowing them to become actively participate alongside Euthyphro. The dilemma establishes Socrates’s view that the feelings of the gods are merely responses to piety, rather than a solid definition of the concept.  The true nature of piety, then, is unrelated to any being’s subjective feelings about what is pious and what is impious.
Themes
The Nature of Piety Theme Icon
The Socratic Method Theme Icon
Quotes
Socrates suggests that Euthyphro is acting like Daedalus (who could make his statues move) because Euthyphro is offering claims that merely move around the concept of piety. Euthyphro retorts—unwittingly—that Socrates is the one who is running circles around him with his logic. Socrates agrees, with irony, that he is in fact doing more, by moving other people’s thoughts and ideas in addition to the ones he creates himself. And, as if on cue, Socrates suggests that they could simplify their discussion by relating piety to justice. Euthyphro cautiously agrees. Socrates asks Euthyphro which part of justice, exactly, piety is. 
The use of the Daedalus metaphor establishes clearly to the reader that Euthyphro is confused, and Socrates is the one running circles around him. It also indicates that Socrates will not accept a definition for piety that simply circles around the gods’ feelings, wishes, or desires whilst obscuring what, exactly, makes them feel, wish, or desire as such. The Daedalus metaphor thus invokes the idea that the concept of piety must be knowable: it is something that can be pinned down and recognized.
Themes
The Nature of Piety Theme Icon
The Socratic Method Theme Icon
Quotes
Euthyphro once again appeals to the gods, by saying piety is the part of justice that is concerned with care for the gods in this fourth definition. Socrates easily illustrates that “care” is a confused concept. Surely, he suggests, it’s hubris to suggest that humans care for the gods in the same way that farmers care for their animals. Fearful of such an arrogant claim, Euthyphro immediately contends that the gods are superior to humans in his analogy, and he means something more like the kind of care that slaves provide for their masters. Socrates argues that surely slaves are able to provide such care because they are clearly informed about their masters aims, which their labor services. Socrates suggests, with tongue in cheek humor, that surely a man as wise on matters of the gods as Euthyphro can provide some details about what, exactly, the gods aims are.
Socrates’s dissection of Euthyphro’s fourth definition is a clear example of the kind of reasoned inquiry that Plato thinks will uncover the definition of piety. This passage exposes to the reader how easy it can be to slip into hubris against the gods. It exposes why a fear of irreverence might cause conventional views about piety to be insufficiently examined, and therefore, perhaps unjustified. It also reminds the reader that this sort of conversation, of collaboratively thinking clearly through concepts, is what caused Socrates to face charges in the first place. Plato thus invites skepticism from the reader about the charge of impiety that Socrates faces.
Themes
The Nature of Piety Theme Icon
Wisdom, Action, and Justification Theme Icon
The Socratic Method Theme Icon
Quotes
Euthyphro starts to grow frustrated, claiming that this is a complicated question but it suffices to say that knowing how to please the gods is pious. Socrates suggests perhaps Euthyphro might man things like praying and offering sacrifices to the gods. Euthyphro quickly agrees. Socrates qualifies Euthyphro’s claim, suggesting that praying is more like asking from the gods. Euthyphro retorts, with growing frustration, that he means actions like honor and reverence, which are analogous to gifts or services to the gods. Socrates asks Euthyphro to explain how he knows these gifts service the gods aims. Euthyphro responds that if these actions are anything, they are dear to the gods, or loved by the gods. Invoking the metaphor of Daedalus again, Socrates contends that Euthyphro’s suggestions are indeed circular, as they keep “moving around” to land back on this notion of whatever is loved by the gods, which they had already dismissed as inadequate.
Euthyphro’s frustration indicates to the reader that his “expertise” about piety is not on solid ground, which is why Socrates draws again on the metaphor of Daedalus to remind the reader that Euthyphro is circling once again back to a baseless claim about the gods. In doing so, he points out the logical flaw in Euthyphro’s pattern of thought and thus holds the reader to the same standard, in an attempt to lead both Euthyphro and the reader to think more critically about what a universal definition of a concept should look like. Plato’s use of the Daedalus metaphor also reinforces Socrates’s view that the definition of piety must be knowable, and that this is incompatible with a conception of piety that relies on the gods, since humans cannot presume to know what the gods desire. 
Themes
The Nature of Piety Theme Icon
The Socratic Method Theme Icon
Socrates suggests they start all over again to get to the bottom of this matter once and for all, for surely Euthyphro wouldn’t take a risk like prosecuting his father unless he really had a clear concept of piety. Socrates comically implores Euthyphro to let him in on his secret. Euthyphro, knowing that he has nothing more substantive to offer than what he has already said, pretends to suddenly be in a hurry, and leaves Socrates with an unsatisfying “some other time.” 
Plato uses Euthyphro’s sudden departure and Socrates’s dissatisfaction to indicate that the nature of piety has not been uncovered, and to prompt the reader to take over the inquiring. The purpose of this dialogue, then, goes deeper than Euthyphro’s understanding of pious versus impious behavior—rather, Plato’s goal is to encourage the reader to engage in a Socratic inquiry of their own about the nature of piety. Only through this train of critical thought is it possible to formulate a universal definition, rather than one that is dependent upon subjective or unknowable opinions, like those of the gods. Plato’s use of humor through Euthyphro’s embarrassment reintroduces the idea that wisdom about the core nature of piety itself is required to make claims about pious and impious behavior, especially in a court of law.
Themes
The Nature of Piety Theme Icon
Wisdom, Action, and Justification Theme Icon
The Socratic Method Theme Icon
Quotes
Socrates exclaims with irony that if only Euthyphro had shared his “wisdom,” Socrates might be able to use this wisdom to escape Meletus’ indictment by showing that with this new “wisdom” he would no longer be “careless and inventive about such things.”
Plato’s use of irony indicates his view that actions cannot be justified as pious without wisdom: a full understanding of the nature of piety. This is what Euthyphro—and here, by extension, Meletus—clearly lacks.
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