For my Philosophy class in university, I was assigned to read Euthyphro by Plato. I have quite a few notes written which relate to this selection (some personal, some from the professor), and the goal of this post is to elaborate on a few of the ideas which are suggested in this text.
Is it wrong that Socrates upsets me? Is it wrong that I think he is an advocate of circular logic? It appears as though he desires absolute truth, but no answer seems to be sufficient for him. He asks questions, but I’m not so sure if he truly wants to find any answers. Did he really want to make conclusions? Did he only want to be right? He's just like me! Or maybe, I'm just like him. I mean, he did come and go before me (469 / 470 BC - 399 BC). And maybe that’s why I don’t like him? After all, an individual arguably has more conflict with themselves, than with any other person / group.
Here is one of the main conflicts within the text: is it pious of Euthyphro to prosecute his father for murdering a murderer? Euthyphro believes that it is, but Socrates is undecided on the matter. Socrates says to Euthyphro "Tell me, then, what is piety, and what is impiety?"
From that point on, their discussion becomes quite circular.
The following quote is not taken from the written selection Euthyphro, but it is an outside statement which was said by Socrates: "The unexamined life is not worth living." But dearest Socrates, is the examined life worth living if you won't accept any answers? What's the purpose in searching if you aren't finding? This man must know how I feel. No matter how hard you try to find something worth holding onto, you always seem to return to that state of feeling empty handed.
Okay, that's as much as I can write about this. I simply cannot write anymore. I'll save my breath for the essays. I've been working on this for days.
I will now conclude with a couple of questions. Would Socrates have been obstructed from recognizing good morals without The Bible or Jesus Christ on earth? Where did the ancient Greek gods get their morals from?
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