Socrates & Pre-Socratics Flashcards
What brings Socrates to the court of King Archon?
Meletus has indicted him on charges of corrupting the youth and impiety.
What Brings Euthyphro to the Court?
Euthyphro proclaims himself wise on divine matters and piety. As his pupil, Socrates would also be thought wise on these matters, putting himself in a better position to defend himself against accusation of impiety.
According to Socrates, why cannot piety be defined as prosecuting the wrong doer?
Prosecuting the wrongdoer is just an example of a pious act, not a definition of piety. Euthyphro’s response that what he is doing is pious gets us no closer to the very nature of piety. (p.290) As mentioned in class, a snickers bar may be a fine example of some chocolate, but it does not “satisfy” as a definition of chocolate
According to Euthyphro, about which kinds of tings do the gods disagree?
The kinds of things the gods disagree about are matters of the just and unjust, of good and evil, of the honorable and dishonorable
If the Gods disagree, why cannot piety be defined as “what is dear to the gods”?
If piety is defined as “what is dear to the gods” and the gods differ over what s dear, then a single act will be rendered both pious and impious. But this is a contradiction and gets us no closer to the definition of piety
Why is it irrelevant to Socrates’ quest for the definition of piety whether all the gods agree that Euthyphro’s action regarding his father is just?
Even if all the gods agree about Euthyphro’s particular action, that would only tell us that the gods believe Euthyphro is doing the right thing in this case. It does not tell us what actually makes an action pious, which is what Socrates is after here
According to Socrates, if the pious is loved by all the gods because it is pious (and not pious because it is loved by all the gods), why cannot piety be defined as what is loved by all the gods?
Piety cannot by defined as what is loved by the all the gods because their love for it is an effect or attribute of piety, not what accounts for its essence or defines it. To keep with our chocolate example: say you love a certain candy bar because it is chocolate. Your love for it does not make it chocolate, nor does your love for it tell us anything about the definition of chocolate. Your love is merely an effect the chocolate has on you. At most then, we could say chocolate has the attribute of being loved by you (and many others), but that is a far cry from telling us what chocolate is. In the same way then, when we turn to the love the gods have for piety, we must distinguish between piety’s effect on the gods (i.e. being loved) and the definition of piety( i.e. what makes something pious), for Euthyphro has still not given us the latter.
In what way do Euthyphro’s statements resemble Daedalus’ statues?
Daedalus was a sculptor whose works were thought to possession powers to move about. Socrates kids Euthyphro that his statements about piety move about as they never seem to fix precisely on Socrates’s initial question—that is, what piety is
What is Socrates’ response to Euthyphro’s claim that it is Socrates who resembles Daedalus?
If it is Socrates making Euthrypho’s arguments move about, then Socrates must be greater than Daedalus, for his ancestor could only make his own inventions move, while Socrates would appear to make those of others move. Of course, if true, Socrates says he would give up the “power” to move the words of others, so to keep their mind fixed on the very question he is after
Why does Socrates reject the poet’s claim that, in terms of parts and wholes, fear is the part and shame is the whole (“where there is fear there is also shame”)?
Socrates argues that there are things we fear that we do not revere—for instance, disease and poverty. Thus, fear includes more things and is the larger set (or the whole) while reverence is includes less and is just a part of fear
Using the notion of parts and wholes, what definition of piety does Socrates suggest to Euthyphro?
Piety is part of justice, so where there is piety there is justice, but where there is justice there is not always piety
According to Euthyphro, what are the two parts of justice? Which part is piety?
According to Euthyphro, that which attends to the gods and that which attends to men make up the two parts of justice. Piety concerns that which attends to the gods
Why does Euthyphro reject the idea that care of the gods is similar to the care of animals?
Euthyphro rejects this sort of “care” or “attention” because you care or attend to animals to make them better, but care or attending to the gods cannot make them better.
What problem does Socrates raise regarding the notion of giving to the gods?
True giving consists in giving what is wanted, but it is not clear what the gods would want from us
How does Euthyphro’s explanation of “giving to the gods” bring him back to a definition of piety he had proposed earlier?
Euthyphro proposes we give to the gods what is pleasing to them, rendering pious acts as that which is dear to them. Socrates understand this answer to come full circle: piety is what is dear to (or loved by) the gods
What reason does Euthyphro give for ending his conversation with Socrates?
Euthyphro tells Socrates that he’s “in a hurry and must go.”
