Read Euthyphro (by Plato). What does the piece tell us about Socrates? About knowledge?
Due September 24, 2012
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13 comments:
What I gather from this piece is that, Socrates is a wise kind man who seeks knowledge and to convince his friend Euthyphro not to prosecute his own father of murder. Socrates is not a conceited person, not once did I noticed where he tried to rub his wisdom in Euthyphro’s face; he only tried to get Euthyphro to seek the truth himself. Socrates is a man who questions everything which he does not understand, or that which his wants to get a better understanding of. This is evident in the questions he asks. What is piety or impiety? Euthyphro only gives examples of piety but does not answer Socrates’ question of what is piety? So Socrates asks, “do you not remember there was one idea which made the impious impious, and the pious pious”? Socrates asks this question in different ways, so that both he and Euthyphro may have a better understanding of it. I also gathered about Socrates, that he respected and cared about his friend Euthyphro, because through all of the questions he asked about piety and impiety, pious and impious, and just and unjust and about what the gods thought was pious and impious, just and unjust, and what the gods loved and hated. Socrates was merely trying to convince his friend Euthyphro not to prosecute his father and not necessarily talking about religion nor was he talking about which gods are cool and which gods are not.
This whole piece is irony. It is ironic that socrates treats this man as an expert in his field, giving him the benefit of the doubt as being an expert in the field of decision about proper and improper judgement; and of course Euthyphro was NOT a good judge at all. The father was simply punishing the murderous man for killing a servant and he inadvertantly died. So in a nutshell, it is poking fun at Euthyphros poor judgement. It is an exercise in irony.
During the entire dialogue, Socrates and Euthyphro are attempting to establish a valid definition of Piety or Impiety with Socrates finding holes in every attempt by Euthyphro and it was definitely ironic, especially the ending because Euthyphro instead of admitting the shortcomings he creates an excuse to leave and Socrates saying that he is holder of knowledge when it comes to piety and treats him as such, when it's obvious Euthyphro is lacking such knowledge.
I love the posts that have already been written and the insights they perceived in the dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro. There is one thing about this debate between the two that I wish to point out that is relavent to the world today before I post the rest to meet the requirements of this assignment.
In the debate, Socrates is trying to find a logical answer for something that is clearly being protrayed by Euthyphro as a matter of religion. The courts back then and until fairly recently were religious courts as much as courts of human law. Many people did not see a clear distinction between the two back then. So socrates is trying make sense out of faith. That in itself is a slippery slope because faith does not have to make sense nor does it have to follow a normal convention of thought, it is "of the gods" I say this because I have heard similar circular arguments about issues that affect people but the definitions and answers are given in such a way as that the underlying premise that it is "of the gods" is enough to settle the debate. With Socrates this was not the appropriate answer to his question because he was going at the question of the definition of piety and impiety in a more legal definition of the subject. I think that maybe we should all be a bit more like Socrates in asking the questions and not setteling with the answers that are given so redily, whether in life in general or in the question of God and what is expected of us. Knowledge needs to be quantified in order to be understood. This is what I think Socrates was trying to do with his friend. Have him quantify what he believed to evaluate the legitimasy of his actions, and I think in a much greater scheme of the text, that is what Socrates is trying to say to us all.
Joseph ni
This pice shows, in my opinion, that Socrates did not see himself as all knowing, but as some one who cherishes the complete understanding of a concept, definition, or beleif. It also shows that he loved to debate, no matter the subject, and especially one that could never be decided with a precise conclusion. Using articulate and cunning word play Socrates seems to be playing riddle games with Euthyphro to get accross a realistic point. That no knowledge is exact, unless you know the exact knowledge, and How can we really know what concepts we aply to the gods as man are true concepts aplied to man by the gods
In the passage from what I’ve picked up, Socrates is a wise, caring, and very curious man. Euthyphro is Socrates friend and Euthyphro is accusing his father of murder. Socrates tests Euthyphro knowledge on several meaning of terms like piety and impiety but is insufficient and uses the gods as examples and this shows Euthyphro has very little knowledge.
What I gathered from this about Socrates is that he is that he is a bit O.C.D. about details and that he sees the world as a puzzle that must fit together in all places just because it is fitting together on one side it still must fit on the other side without disrupting the first side, till all the pieces fit together perfectly. He won’t be happy till all the supporting facts link together. As for knowledge it makes me question can there really be a so called expert on any subject.
Evan Redburrow
This scene I believe Socrates is curious, very aware, and putting pieces together before he thinks of prosecution to anyone which leads to murder. Socrates gave to much credit to euthyphro about his character as a young man who is rumored to accuse and destroy Socrates. I think in this day and time we need to be more aware of our surrounding. Impiety, Piety and pious!! These are actions to look at in order for communication with understanding. Socrates points out knowledge key to be key yet we all have only more questions.
he challenges the idea of the government choosing or guiding religious beliefs since government is very self serving.
so he believes that government ruling over religion creates a problem becasue the religion would be adapted to fit the selfish needs of the ruler
Socrates questioned religion and the gods extensively. This interaction between him and Euthyphro basically recounts how Socrates was sharing his opinions of the gods with the young people in his city.
Melentes challenged him, saying that Socrates was corrupting the young with his ideas of "new gods" and not acknowledging the existence of the "old" gods.Socrates ideas have upset many people and Melentes has gone to the court to have Socreates silenced. The courts are all bound by religion.
the state and religion are one, rules, laws etcetera are made based upon religious beliefs.
so Socreates is sharing his predicament with Euthyphro who wonders why Socrates wants to remain to solid in his beliefs. He wonders why socrates wants to cahllenge not only the gods but also the King and state with his beliefs.
Socrates is always learning and being taught of new words and things. Using his mind to understand how others perceive of them, he makes his long statements and comments to check and double check if what others say is what is meant.
Knowledge is all around us and we choose to learn from what or whom we learn from.
Socrates is always learning and being taught of new words and things. Using his mind to understand how others perceive of them, he makes his long statements and comments to check and double check if what others say is what is meant.
Knowledge is all around us and we choose to learn from what or whom we learn from.
Socrates is always learning and being taught of new words and things. Using his mind to understand how others perceive of them, he makes his long statements and comments to check and double check if what others say is what is meant.
Knowledge is all around us and we choose to learn from what or whom we learn from.
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