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?

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  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).

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