Transcript Socrates and Plato Euthyphro, Apology, and Phaedo

Socrates and Plato
Euthyphro, Apology, and Phaedo
Unit 2: Greece
Honors 2101, Fall 2006
Bryan Benham
The unexamined life is not worth living.
– Socrates (Plato’s Apology)
Historical Setting
• Athens, Post-Peloponnesian War
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Athens defeated in 404
Thirty Tyrants and restoration of democracy
Socrates’ trial and execution in 399
Plato wrote years later
• The New Learning and Greek Tradition
– Sophists
– Oracular & Mystery Religions
Apology & Phaedo
• “Defense” of Socrates
– Charged with corrupting the youth, and;
– Impiety (“introducing new gods”)
• Socratic Mission
– Oracle from Delphi: Socratic wisdom?
– Asked those who claim to be wise, but
demonstrated they were not wise.
– A philosophic hero?
Euthyphro
A dialogue on the nature of “piety”
• Hoison (Gk.): (a.) belief in religious principles,
ritual and prayer; (b.) righteousness or morality;
(c./archaic) loyalty to parents and family.
• Elenchus (Gk.):
– Rational inquiry using dialectic methods (Q & A)
– Seeks universal definition of moral concepts
• (genus/species, reductio, and analogy)
– Usually ends unresolved (ignoratio elenchi:
“ignorance of proof”)
Structure of Euthyphro
Set-up
Def. 1
Def. 2
Obj.
Def. 3
Objs.
Horn A
Horn B
Definition
Analogies
Dilemma
unresolved
Meeting Euthyphro
• Porch of King-Archon (the courthouse)
– Where Socrates is waiting to be tried
• Euthyphro to prosecute a case
– Against his own father
– For (negligently) killing a slave
– Claims he is doing what is right; acting out
of piety*
First Definition
Piety1 = prosecuting the wrong-doer (5e)
Socrates’ Objection
– Not the right kind of definition
– It is an example or description of an action,
but not a general account (definition)
– Looking for the genus-species definition
Second Definition
Piety2 = what is dear to the gods; impiety
is what is not dear to the gods. (7a)
Socrates’ Objection (Dilemma)
– Two meanings of ‘dear to the gods’
– Is the pious loved by the gods because it is
pious, or is it pious because it is loved by
the gods? (10a)
The Dilemma
Option A: If pious because it is loved by the
gods, then piety is arbitrary. (8a-b)
Gods disagree, are in discord, so an action can be both pious
and impious; or the gods can change their mind.
Option B: If loved by the gods because it is
pious, then still must determine what piety
is. (9a-b)
Without reducing to Option A, above.
Third Definition
Piety3 = justice, i.e., a part of justice
concerned with the care of the gods
(12e)
Socrates’ Objection
– The meaning of “care of the gods” is
unclear
Care of the gods (A)
Option A: “care” is similar to “care for horses”, in
which the aim is the well-being or benefit of
the horse; so piety is care aimed at the wellbeing of the gods. (13e)
But, this is unsatisfactory because why would
the gods need our care in this way?
Care of the gods (B)
Option B: “care” is like the service afforded to a
master, which benefits the master; such as
saying pleasing things to the gods at
prayer/sacrifice, and the knowledge of the
proper ritual (gift-giving or bribery). (14b)
But, this is unsatisfactory because not clear
how giving praise, gifts, or simply bribes to
the gods is beneficial to them. Leads back to
the dilemma of the second definition. (15b-c)
Euthyphro leaves
The dialogue finishes with Euthyphro storming off,
thinking Socrates is ridiculous.
• Does Socrates show that Euthyphro claims wisdom
he does not actually have? (viz. Apology)
• Why do you think the dialogue ends without
resolution? What is the lesson, if any, to be learned?
• Is Socrates on a fools’ errand? Merely
“philosophizing” to no end?
Some Thoughts
• In Euthyphro Plato/Socrates rejects a divine
justification for morality (the dilemma of the 2nd
definition), in favor of a more rational account.
• In Republic Plato revisits the notion of justice, and will
reject a conventional definition of it (Bk 1).
• Consider ‘piety’ and ‘justice’ as essentially equivalent
to morality, or what is right/wrong; what alternative is
left to Plato?