EUTHTHYPHO vs. SOCRATES
Saint Leo University
PHI 110
Professor Anthony Nattaninia
A young man by the name of Euthyphro involves himself in a conversation with the well known Socrates. During this conversation Euthyphro attempts to impose unrealistic beliefs concerning piety. Euthyphro is the plaintiff in a murder suit that he is filing against his very own father. Euthyphro believes that he has a case against his father, the reasons the young man comes up with does not sufficiently satisfy Socrates. This text is a great example of beliefs of a young man; against the wisdom and knowledge of older man. In the final analysis Socrates conversation with Euthyphro, smashes all of Euthyphro’s ideas and conceptions. Euthypro’s belief system has diminished and what he thought may be sound, good reasoning concerning the gods proves to be meaningless conversation. Euthyphro speaks in fallacy, Socrates sees right through it; and that is apparent in his questioning toward the young man. W. K. Clifford wrote an essay titled “The Ethics of Belief” in which he “argues that there is an ethic to belief that makes it always wrong for anyone to believe anything on insufficient evidence.” (Pojman/Rea 498) This short essay of comparing thoughts and beliefs will compare how Euthyphro by Plato, shows the importance of belief in comparison to that of W. K. Clifford in “The Ethics of Belief.” Furthermore, it is important to see how the text on Euthyphro’s conversation with Socrates, by Plato, truly shows that belief is invalid without proper evidence to justify it. Belief is described as a feeling of being sure that someone or something exists, that something is true. Belief is a confidence; it is taught in childhood and plastered into the mind, it is a block to many men and women while growing old and learning about life. There was a time that a military soldier told a joke to another soldier after a situation of importance. The two
Cited: Pojman/Rea, Solomon, Kierkegaard. Encountering The Real: Faith And Philosophical Enquiry. Mason: Cengage Learning, 2012.