This study guide is part of The Last Days of Socrates series. For a brief introduction to Socrates and this series you can click on the provided link. You can also download the PDF of Plato’s Euthyphro HERE. If you are interested in seeing other study guides that have been published, are in production, or are in line for the future you can go HERE. Thanks for stopping by Study The Great Books!
Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)
What does Euthyphro say he believes the gods would agree about? (pg. 8)
Concerning what does Socrates say, “the gods are in the same case” as we humans are? (pg. 9)
What does Socrates say to Euthyphro about what will make the judges of his case “sure to listen” to him? (pg. 9)
The definition of piety has changed once again. What is the third offered definition of piety? (pg. 10)
What two things does Socrates suggest are “distinct” from one another? (pg. 10)
What does Euthyphro say keeps happening to their “arguments” no matter what “ground we rest them on”? (pg. 12)
What insult does Socrates make towards Euthyphro? (pg. 12)
What disagreement does Socrates have with the poet Stasinus? (pg. 13)
On page 14 Euthyphro now offers a fourth definition of piety. What is it?
What is Euthyphro’s fifth attempt at offering a definition of piety? (pg. 16)
According to Socrates, who has the “advantage” in the transactional relationship between the gods and men under Euthyphro’s conception of things? (pg. 17)
Who does Socrates say is a “far greater artist than Daedalus”? (pg. 18)
Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)
Why does Socrates let Euthyphro off the hook for proving that the gods would unanimously agree with him in bringing murder charges against his father? (pg. 10)
Socrates asks “whether the pious or holy is beloved by the gods because it is holy, or holy because it is beloved by the gods”? (pg. 10) Why is this a difficult dilemma? What is the problem this question highlights?
How is Euthyphro guilty of what is called the fallacy of circular reasoning? (pg. 10-12)
In what way are piety and justice not identical according to Socrates? (pg. 13-14)
Why does Socrates see a problem with saying that piety is the part of justice which “attends to the gods”? (pg. 15)
Why does Euthyphro leave Socrates before they have discovered the true nature of piety? (pg. 18-19)
Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)
Speaking of those on trial for some crime Socrates says, “they do not venture to argue that the guilty are to be unpunished, but they deny their guilt.” (pg. 8) It seems that he thinks everyone agrees that the guilty should never go unpunished. Is it ever just to knowingly let the guilty go unpunished? Why or why not?
There are five (or maybe even six) definitions of piety offered up in this dialogue. Which do you think is the best and why? Are any of them actually correct? Explain your answer.
What do you think makes it so difficult to answer the question, “What is piety”? Are Christians better able to answer this than the Greeks? Why or why not?
Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)
What does Numbers 14:18 tell us about God’s sense of justice towards the guilty?
Read Romans 3:21-26. How is it that God, who “by no means clears the guilty” (c.f. Num. 14:18), can forgive us who are guilty of sin? How does this not conflict with his perfect justice?
Read Romans 5:6-11. How does this passage further explain the love of God and justice of God?