Euthyphro's most important attempt to define holiness comes with his suggestion that what is holy is what is approved of by all the gods. Socrates sets up a rather elaborate argument to show that the two cannot be equivalent. The gods approve of what is holy because it is holy, so what is holy determines what the gods approve of. And what the gods approve of in turn determines what the gods approve of. It follows from this reasoning that what is holy cannot be the same thing as what is approved of by the gods, since one of these two determines what gets approved of by the gods and the other is determined by what gets approved of by the gods.

Euthyphro is next led to suggest that holiness is a kind of justice,

1. In the dialogue Euthyphro, Socrates asks Euthyphro to define piety (holiness). Euthyphro replies by giving three different definitions, each of which turns out to be inadequate in some way. What are the three definitions proposed by Euthyphro? What are the objections to each of them voiced by Socrates, and what does Socrates mean to imply by his objections? Have we learned anything about piety by the end of the dialogue? What do you think about Socrates' concept of what a definition must be like?

Socrates' mission was prophesized by the Oracle at Delphi. It all began when Chaerophon wanted to hire a sophist as a teacher for his son. Chaerophon wanted to hire the wisest man in Athens, so he went to the Oracle at Delphi to seek the wisest man. The Oracle told Chaerophon that the wisest man in Athens was Socrates. However, Socrates was not a teacher or sophist. Therefore, when Socrates was informed of this information, he began his mission by listening in on training sessions between sophists and their students. By listening in, Socrates learned that the questions that were asked were not receiving the proper answers. Socrates began to believe that he was given the divinity to display that the sophists were teaching the wrong matters by developing a following of students who had abandoned their teachers. Socrates is well aware of what knowledge he does not know, thus making him the wisest man in Athens. Soon after, Socrates was brought to court with being charged with corrupting the youth and preaching about false gods. The Athenian Government was not at all pleased.

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Approximate Word count = 2457
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)