¶ … pious is what all the gods love, the opposite, what all the gods hate, is the impious." How does Socrates react to this definition? Why is this not an adequate definition, and why does it fail to reveal the form?
Socrates is not satisfied with Euthyphro's definition of pious because Euthyphro's definition fails to reveal the form of pious. Socrates believes that forms are perfect models of reality. They are independent and universal. So when Socrates asks Euthyphro to explain what pious means, he expects Euthyphro to provide him with the form of pious. In other words, something Socrates can use and refer to in the future as what it means for something or someone to be pious.
Euthyphro has been engaged in this dialogue because he has claimed to know many things about the gods, what is divine and consequently what is pious. At first, Euthyphro offers his own situation of going to court to prosecute his father for murdering a murderer as an explanation for what is pious. Socrates dismisses this as an example, not a proper definition. Euthyphro agrees and then provides his definition that pious is what all the gods love. As is Socrates way, he asks if they could examine his statement a little closer.
Socrates then gets Euthyphro to admit that the gods loving or not loving piety is a quality of pious and not what pious is. And since Socrates believes this definition to be a quality of something that is pious it is thus not usable as an archetype for pious. Then, he gets Euthyphro to say that piousness is a part of justice like even is a part of
Again, Euthyphro's statement falls short of providing Socrates with the form of pious because as a part of justice, and subsequently something that is loved by and cared for by the gods, Euthyphro returns to his already defeated argument that the gods loving or not loving something is simply a quality not a true definition.
Therefore, Socrates reacts to the definition in true Socratic fashion: he asks a lot of questions in an attempt to get the other person to provide him with the answer. Through the questioning, Socrates illustrates that the definition has failed to reveal the form of pious. In fact, what Euthyphro has put forth are only examples and qualities of piousness. Unfortunately for Socrates, Euthyphro's court requirements cut the conversation short before he is able to extract a satisfactory definition.
2. Why does Socrates feel he must address the slanders of his earlier accusers? How does he try to show that he is different from the Sophists? Why does he think that the Sophists are dangerous? What does his testimony reveal about his beliefs in the importance of philosophy?
Socrates feels he must address the slanders of his earlier accusers for a number of reasons. The primary reason is because he feels that those accusers did the most damage to his reputation because they started to work on others during their younger years. They were the first influence on the way others thought about Socrates. Therefore, the youngsters just listened with no real refute of what Socrates original accusers were saying. Basically, these first accusers taught the young men of Athens that Socrates was bad and because they were so influential and the listeners were so young, Socrates must spend the little time he had working to undo what these original accusers had done. Such effort directed at the…
