What Is Socrates Doing That Makes Euthyphro So Angry?
1. What is Socrates doing that makes Euthyphro so angry? In Plato’s dialog Euthyphro, Socrates and Euthyphro encounter one another in court. Socrates being charged with corrupting the youth of the state with his teachings, they claim he invents new Gods and shows impiety to those who exist. When encountering Euthyphro, a man well known by others and himself to be magnificently knowledgeable of the divine rule, he asks him about the true meaning of piety and impiety. Socrates himself knows he has not much wisdom on what is holy and unholy, so he insists in the aid of Euthyphro to teach him his vast and accurate understanding of the divine rule. However, Euthyphro is quick to give simple and ready answers that provide but only examples of
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The first accusation was of impiety, that Socrates was not devoted to the Gods of Athens and was an atheist. To this, Socrates informed them that he was skeptical of the Gods of Athens, but granted he did believe in a higher power. The following accusation was of his corruption of the youth in the state. Socrates mentions in his speech, that if his actions in sharing his teachings are wrong then he indeed is guilty. For he would not stop sharing his knowledge. In doing so he also goes around to the powerful men of Athens and questions their wisdom, ultimately discrediting their knowledge and bringing it to light to the public. Socrates does include that by his teachings he would not be able to single handedly corrupt the public, and in addition he never collected a profit for his generosity. He simply shared his views on philosophy, questioning those in power who believed themselves to have an impressive foresight on the matters beyond those the public could not understand. The people of the Athens who did listen and lived by Socrates’s words did so because he provided a different understanding of wisdom and morality, in a humble and logical way. With all this in mind, Socrates was not guilty of the accusations made against him. He did not directly and purposely corrupt the public, because in a sense they were already
The first accusation was of impiety, that Socrates was not devoted to the Gods of Athens and was an atheist. To this, Socrates informed them that he was skeptical of the Gods of Athens, but granted he did believe in a higher power. The following accusation was of his corruption of the youth in the state. Socrates mentions in his speech, that if his actions in sharing his teachings are wrong then he indeed is guilty. For he would not stop sharing his knowledge. In doing so he also goes around to the powerful men of Athens and questions their wisdom, ultimately discrediting their knowledge and bringing it to light to the public. Socrates does include that by his teachings he would not be able to single handedly corrupt the public, and in addition he never collected a profit for his generosity. He simply shared his views on philosophy, questioning those in power who believed themselves to have an impressive foresight on the matters beyond those the public could not understand. The people of the Athens who did listen and lived by Socrates’s words did so because he provided a different understanding of wisdom and morality, in a humble and logical way. With all this in mind, Socrates was not guilty of the accusations made against him. He did not directly and purposely corrupt the public, because in a sense they were already