Plato’s dialogue, The Euthyphro, centers on an attempt to define the nature of piety. Euthyphro proposes a number of definitions, and Socrates finds flaws in them all, leading to a series of arguments. The setting of the dialogue is as follows: A few days before his trial Socrates meets Euthyphro. ... Euthyphro responds that he is in the course of accusing his own father of murder and and for doing so people have accused him of impiety also. ... Socrates asks if he knows what piety is and, he responds that he does. ...
Socrates begins by first asking what is holy and what is unholy? Euthyphro answers with his first definition of piety, he says piety is to prosecute wrongdoers, whomever they may be, in other words, he says, piety is to do just what he is doing, prosecuting his father. ... Socrates proves this definition to be inadequate. ... Euthyphro is saying that what he is doing is just and he says what is just is what he’s doing. ... To avoid these problems Socrates rephrases his question. ...
This leads us to Euthyphro’s next definition of piety. ... Socrates proved this by saying “…the same things, you say, are thought by some gods to be just and by others unjust. ...
Now Euthyphro fixes his definition, and says that holy is what all the gods love, and that what all the gods hate is unholy. ... Socrates argues this definition by asking “is the holy loved by the gods because it is holy?
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