Euthyphro Part 1

Basic story of Euthyphro: two men meet outside of the court. They are each going somewhere; Socrates is going to his own prosecution and Euthyphro to prosecute his father. They both join in conversation.

What do they talk about: Piety. Socrates is trying to understand what piety is and trying to get Euthyphro to explain it to him. By knowing what piety is, Socrates thinks he can make a case against his prosecution. They also talk about the structure of Euthyphros´s claim and use syllogisms to do this.

Background: this is the trial that sends Socrates to his death. He is trialed because Meletus thought that Socrates was innovating the gods instead of following the old gods.

There are two ways to interpret Socrates: 1) like if he knows everything, he is cynical and manipulative. 2) He has intellectual humility and integrity. He is honest in not knowing certain things.

Answers to what piety is:

1) What us dear to the gods is pious, what is not is impious.

2) What is concerned with the care of the gods.

2) What is pleasing to the gods.

In this dialogue, I got really annoyted because I had read a quote trying to give an explanation for what piety was and then someone else said it again and everyone related to that one. It was like if no one listened to what I had said before.