LHUM 1203 THE PLEASURE OF INQUIRY: PHILOSOPHY
ASSIGNMENT #3 Part A
EUTHYPHRO – AN EXERCISE
Student’s Name __________________
PART A: Read the Euthyphro dialogue [Melchert & Morrow, Chap. 5: 77-85, custom
edition]. As you read it answer the questions below. Submit your completed Euthyphro
exercise through Brightspace or send it to [email protected].
PART B: Review your responses in light of the answers that will be posted. Then re-submit your
reviewed Euthyphro exercise.
The exercise is worth 5 marks in total. You get 3 marks for submitting your completed exercise
(Assign 3-PART A) by the first due date. You get 2 marks for re- submitting your reviewed
exercise (Assign 3-PART B) by the second due date.
[Note: Ignore the numbers and letters on the left side of the dialogue. They have to do with the
pagination of Plato’s original dialogue, and not this exercise.]
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1. What does Euthyphro do (his occupation)? What kind of person does he seem to be?
2. Why is Socrates at the courthouse (‘king-archon’)?
3a. Why is Euthyphro at the courthouse (‘king-archon’)?
b. What does Euthyphro think the main issue is regarding why he’s there? What’s his
position on that issue?
4. What does Socrates think the main issue is? What’s his position?
5. Give an example of where Socrates is being ironical in what he says or does with
Euthyphro up to this point in the dialogue.
6a. What’s Euthyphro’s first definition of piety?
b. What’s Socrates' criticism of that definition?
7a. What’s Euthyphro’s opening second definition?
b. What’s Socrates' objection to the opening second definition?
c. What’s Euthyphro's revised second definition (where he thinks he’s taking Socrates'
objection into account)?
d. What are Socrates' criticisms of the revised second definition?
8a. Socrates intervenes and clarifies what Euthyphro is saying. What does Euthyphro agree
to as the third definition of piety?
b. What’s Socrates’ problem with the third definition Euthyphro’s agreed to? (Note: the
section around 8b has been edited in the Melchert and Morrow text to make Socrates’
objection less complicated)
9. Here Euthyphro is getting upset and experiences confusion. How does he describe what
he’s experiencing?
Socrates offers to help Euthyphro teach him about piety and refocuses the conversation. He
suggests piety is necessarily part of ‘justice’. But what part?
10a. What does Euthyphro offer as his opening fourth definition in response to this?
b. What is Socrates’ concern with the opening fourth definition?
c. Euthyphro suddenly hears what he just said. Why does Euthyphro say that wasn’t what he
meant?
11a. Euthyphro quickly offers a revised fourth definition. What is it? And what’s Socrates'
problem with it?
b. At this point Euthyphro is quite frustrated but offers another revised fourth definition
that’s more of a statement about all that the gods do. Socrates presses Euthyphro to
summarize all they do or state what’s the chief thing they do. What’s the simple concluding
statement Euthyphro makes about the gods and piety?
c. What’s Socrates' difficulty with Euthyphro's latest statements about piety?
12. So Socrates has to ask once again what piety and impiety are. He paraphrases and
discusses some of Euthyphro’s earlier points. Euthyphro finally answers, but what definition
does he provide? And what does Socrates notice about it?
13. How does the dialogue conclude?
14. Do you think Socrates was being ‘friendly’ to Euthyphro in the dialogue?
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Ed Ksenych St. James Campus, George Brown College E-Mail: [email protected]
