EUTHYPHRO
Dialogue about the virtue of hosion (piety). This dialogue has implications for any ethical theory, or theory of value in general, that identifies rightness and wrongness, or goodness and badness, with being commanded or forbidden by a god, or gods.
1. Scene
Socrates meets Euthyphro ("straight thinker"), a soothsayer or prophet (mantis), in the corner of the agora (marketplace), in front of the stoa (porch/court) of the King Archon. Socrates must go to the King Archon because he has been charged with impiety. Euthyphro is there because he is bringing a charge of murder against his father. (The King Archon dealt with important religious matters and homicide/murder).
2. Euthyphro claims to have knowledge of piety and impiety
'For, they say, it is impious for a son to prosecute his father for murder. But their ideas of the divine attitude to piety and impiety are wrong, Socrates. [...] I [...] have exact knowledge of all such things.'
(p. 101)
3. Every pious actions is of the same form, or has the same essence -- the form or the essence of 'the pious', and 'the pious' is the opposite of the 'impious'
'[I]sn't the pious itself the same as itself in every action? And conversely, isn't the impious entirely the opposite of the pious? And whatever's going to count as impious, isn't it itself similar to itself -- doesn't it, as regards impiety, possess one single characteristics?"
(p. 101)
4. First Definition of Piety
"what's pious is precisely what I am doing now: prosecuting those who commit an injustice, such as murder or temple robbery"
(p. 102)
5. Rejection of First definition of piety
"Bear in mind that I did not bid you tell one or two of the many pious actions but that form itself that makes all pious actions pious, for you agreed that all impious actions are impious and all pious actions pious through one form"
(p. 101)
6. Second definition of piety
1. "[W]hat is dear to the gods is pious, what is not is impious."
(p. 101)
2. "An action or man dear to the gods is pious, but an action or man hated by the gods is impious."
(p. 101)
7. Disagreements about what is just and unjust, good and bad, beautiful and ugly, make people angry and hostile
"I tell you.. these subjects are the just and the unjust, the beautiful and the ugly, the good and the bad... the subjects of difference about which, when we are unable to come to a satisfactory decision, you and I and other men become hostile to each other whenever we do?"
(p. 102)
8. Euthyphro claims that there is 'war' (conflict, disagreement) among the gods
"Indeed, Euthyphro, that is why I am a defendant in the case, because I find it hard to accept things like that being said about the gods"
(p. 100-1)
9. Socrates does not believe that there is 'war' among the gods
"And do you believe that there really is war among the gods?"
(p. 102)
10. The gods are 'at war' with each other, therefore different gods consider different things to be just and unjust, etc.
"Then according to your argument, my good Euthyphro, different gods consider different things to be just, beautiful, ugly, good, and bad, for they would not be at odds with one another unless they differed about these subjects, would they?"
(p. 102)
11. The same things (actions, men, etc.) are considered just by some gods and unjust by other gods
"[T]he same things are considered just by some gods and unjust by others"
(p. 102)
12. The same things are loved by the gods (i.e. by some gods) and hated by the gods (i.e. by other gods)
"The same things then are loved by the gods and hated by the gods, and would be both god-beloved and god-hated." (p. 102)
13. The same things are pious and impious
"And the same things would be both pious and impious, according to this argument?"
(p. 103)
14. Rejection of second definition
"I did not ask you what same thing is both pious and impious, and it appears that what is loved by the gods is also hated by them."
(p. 103)
15. Euthyphro claims that all the gods would agree that, for example, whoever kills another unjustly (i.e. murders someone) should pay the penalty, i.e. they would agree that murder is wrong and should be punished
"[O]n this subject no gods would differ from one another, that whoever has killed anyone unjustly should pay the penalty."
(p. 103)
16. Socrates says that the people disagree about the facts of the case, i.e. that a murder has occurred (as opposed to, say, an act of self-defense), and not about whether, for example, murder is wrong and should be punished
"Then they do not dispute that the wrongdoer must be punished, but they may disagree as to who the wrongdoer is, what he did and when."
(p. 103)
17. The gods disagree about whether this or that action is wrong or just, even if they agree that a wrongdoer must be punished
"Do not the gods have the same experience, if indeed they are at odds with each other about the just and the unjust, as your argument maintains? Some assert that they wrong one another, while others deny it, but no one among the gods or men ventures to say that the wrongdoer must not be punished."
(p. 103)
18. Socrates challenges Euthyphro to show that his father acted unjustly
"Come, try to show me a clear sign that all the gods definitely believe this action to be right."
(p. 104)
19. Even if Euthyphro could show that ALL of the gods consider this action by Euthyphro's father to be unjust, that would not be a definition of piety
"If Euthyphro shows me conclusively that all the gods consider such a death unjust, to what greater extent have I learned from him the nature of piety and impiety?"
(p. 104)
20. Third Definition of Piety
"[W]hat all the gods hate is impious, and what they all love is pious"
(p. 104)
21. Pivotal question of the Euthyphro
"Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?"
(p. 104)
(a) The pious is loved by all the gods because it is pious
vs.
(b) The pious is pious because it is loved by all the gods
or
(a) The pious is loved by all the gods for the reason that it is pious
vs.
(b) The pious is pious for the reason that it is loved by all the gods
22. Statement (a) is true, and statement (b) is false, according to both Socrates and Euthyphro
"It is loved then because it is pious, but it is not pious because it is loved"
(p. 105)
23. Rejection of the third definition
"The god-beloved is then not the same as the pious, Euthyphro, nor the pious the same as the god-beloved"
(p. 105)
That is,
(1) The god-loved is god-loved because it is god-loved.
(2) The pious is god-loved because it is pious.
(3) The pious is not god-loved because it is god-loved.
---> Hence, the pious and the god-loved are not the same.
[ See Main Argument, below ]
24. Fourth definition
It is the part of justice having to do with care for or service of the gods.
25. Fourth definition
It is the knowledge of how to sacrifice and pray.
*****
26. Main Argument of the Euthyphro
(a) The pious is loved by all the gods because it is pious
vs.
(b) The pious is pious because it is loved by all the gods
Why is statement (b) false? Because according to statement (b), the essence or nature of something's being pious that it is loved by all the gods.
This means that all there is to being pious is being loved by all the gods. If anything is loved by all the gods, then it is pious. In particular, if any action is loved by all the gods, then it is a pious action.
If, for example, the action of Oedipus of killing his father is loved by all the gods, then that action is pious. If lying is loved by all the gods, then lying is pious.
In principle, therefore, any kind of action can be pious. Murder, lying, theft, etc., can be pious. All it takes is for all the gods to love this kind of action.
Socrates and Euthyphro both believe that it is false that murder, lying, theft, etc., can be pious. They do not believe that any kind of action can be pious. Hence, they both believe that it is false that all there is to being pious is being loved by all the gods. They both believe that there is something to being pious other than merely being loved by all the gods.
26. Divine Command Theory of Morality
(or Theological Voluntarism)
Question:
"Is murder wrong because it is forbidden by God, or does God forbid murder because it is wrong?"
(a) Murder is forbidden by God because it is wrong
vs.
(b) Murder is wrong because it is forbidden by God
If statement (b) is true, then "forbidden by God" is the essence of wrongness. This means that all there is to something's being wrong that it is forbidden by God.