Euthyphro's Definition Of Piety

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What is Piety? Socrates, upon meeting Euthyphro, who believes that permitting elenchus for his father’s crimes is an act of piety, argues, "If you had no clear knowledge of piety and impiety you would never have ventured to prosecute your old father." I assume that Socrates means if Euthyphro claims that he is turning in his father in the name of piety, Euthyphro must (i.) know what it means to be pious, and (ii.) be able to give examples of piety. Because Euthyphro cannot do either, Socrates, therefore, disagrees with Euthyphro’s actions and confronts Euthyphro’s belief on piety and his subsequent actions based on his beliefs. Socrates argues that if piety can be applied in the same way in every action, how can we find the element that connects all pious acts unless we already understand what piety is? At the same time, we cannot understand what piety is without knowing what the connecting element is. Euthyphro claims that piety is what is loved by all the gods, wherein…show more content…
He claims that what is pious is what all the gods love, while from points I – IV shows what is pious is not simply what all the gods love, but also the reasoning of why the gods love it in the first place and their reasons to love it. The statement, “[the] pious is loved by the gods because it is pious, not pious because it is loved” (AGP, 146, 10e) is the one explanation to help us understand why the gods love what they love, but Euthyphro does not clarify this in his definition. Because of this, one does not know why the gods love what they love. As a result, piety and what is pleasing to the gods are different things. The god-loved and the pious are not the same even though, it is definite what the pious is, is god-loved, and what is god-loved, is god-loved. The god-loved is inherently loved, that is, the god-loved is loved unconditionally while the condition of being pious must exist in order that the pious is

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