At first glance, I interpreted Euthyphro as a confident and absent-minded individual. Euthyphro claimed to understand both piety and impiety, stating that piety is all about the approval of the God's. Only Socrates uses the Socratic method to challenge Euthyphro's definition. I think that Euthyphro was hoping for a "nod of approval" instead of the lesson that Socrates gave. After Socrates questioned Euthyphro's grounds for thinking it pious to prosecute his father, Euthyphro's replies began to lack the same enthusiasm he displayed in the beginning of the dialogue. Is he trying to withdraw himself from the conversation because he has other endeavours? I think that Euthyphro is in awe when he realizes his ignorance and that Socrates has debunked his argument in such a way that causes him to understand that prosecuting his own father may, in fact, be impious?

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2017 at 6:14 PM

    You're right to mention Euthyphro as absent-minded...Matt brought up the ambiguity of the ending last class, to the extent that Euthyphro's proclamation of "it is time for me to go" could mean "go and leave this discussion" or "go and prosecute my father"...but I'm definitely leaning towards the second interpretation there. Although Euthyphro probably did leave the conversation to avoid embarrassment by Socrates, he's absolutely the type to forget what he had set out to do in the first place (namely, prosecute his father). But if this is true (it would also be funny, and Plato seems to have a keen sense of humor) then it leads us to question whether this was Socrates' objective in the first place, to distract and eventually fluster Euthyphro (with tongue in cheek, it would seem).

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Plato's Socrates

I am intrigued by how beautiful Plato made Socrates. Plato did say that the Socrates in his dialogues was made out to be young and beautiful. Why does Plato create an opposite of his historically ugly and elderly mentor? I think that Plato understood societies shallow misconception of true beauty. Plato used a rhetoric that painted an ideal picture for his audience which captured their attention. This image gave Plato an opportunity to educate on some of Socrates most complex philosophical theories. The arguments throughout the dialogues thus far, both the good and the bad, have nevertheless given Socrates a God-like image. If only everyone could be as calm about drinking Hemlock as Socrates...
Read more

Ambiguity

Ambiguity seemed like a hot-button topic during last Monday's class. The ambiguity of teaching seems to come from an individual's ability to perceive concepts differently depending on who their teacher is and what is being taught. Plato's character, Socrates, seems to avoid the ambiguity of difficult concepts such as justice and virtue by attempting to speak the language of the discourse community that surrounds him. Plato provides Socrates with literary tools that allow his audience to use personal experiences as a basis for the concepts they are attempting to define. I made the analogy for teaching virtue (or concepts such as love, friendship, etc.) as teaching a language in Monday's class because although one can be taught how to spell a word, I believe that only through practice and experience can one learn how to apply it.
Read more