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Analysis of Plato's Euthyphro Dialogue

The purpose of this research is to examine the Euthyphro dialogue by Plato. The plan of the research will be to set forth a six-step analysis of the dialogue, including plot and character, the structure of the arguments, presentation of arguments in premise-conclusion form, the presuppositions behind the arguments, a critique of them, and an identification of the overall argument, point, conclusion, and message that the dialogue portrays.

Socrates, waiting to be prosecuted by Meletus for impiety--specifically atheism and corruption of Athenian youth--encounters his friend Euthyphro, who is on his way to prosecute his own father for murder. Euthyphro is basing his case on his certain knowledge of the gods--what they love and do not love--even though others are saying that it is impious to prosecute one's own father for murder. Declaring himself intrigued and eager to relearn from Euthyphro the proper attitude--for after all Meletus has accused Socrates of "improvising and innovating about the divine" (94b)--Socrates draws Euthyphro out on the subject of piety. Throughout, Socrates positions himself--ironically--as Euthyphro's ignorant pupil, as if seeking wisdom and understanding about what is pious so that he may avoid prosecution by Meletus. Socrates does not particularly claim to have all the answers to the difficulties raised by Euthyphro's way of thinking. But as he questions Euthyphro in detail on the nature of piety and, more generally, the relationship of man to the gods, it becomes clear that what Socrates does understand is that his friend's apparent certainty about the divine is in fact fatuously self-serving, logically confused, and contradictory. Perplexed, befuddled, and embarrassed that Socrates has demonstrated just how confused his friend's thinking is, Euthyphro hastily takes his leave. The dialogue ends with Socrates expressing regret that he has not after all acquired wisdom in divine matters from his friend (105)...

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Analysis of Plato's Euthyphro Dialogue. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 13:19, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1712044.html