Plato's Definition Of Piety In Euthyphro

In this paper I will argue that Plato’s Euthyphro shows that though it is possible for religion and morality to connect, they are two separate concepts independent of each other and must always be considered as such. Throughout the dialogue, Socrates demonstrates that the foundations of morality cannot be based on religion, as this provides a definition of morality that is ultimately empty.
Throughout the dialogue of Euthyphro, Socrates attempts to use irony and thorough questioning to refute Euthyphro’s arguments and reveal the errors in his definition of piety, or morality. When asked what piety is, Euthyphro simply replies that “the pious is to do what I am doing now” (Plato 6). Socrates points out that this is simply one example of piety, not a meaningful explanation, and in reply to this Euthyphro insists that …show more content…
Many theists claim that morality does not in fact reach farther than God’s commandments. Proponents of the Divine Command Theory maintain that morality is based solely on religion, and that everything God commands is good simply because God commanded it. However, if everything God says becomes automatically morally good, the meaning of the word “moral” is lost. Therefore, this theory “makes right and wrong subject to God’s whims, which makes it impossible for God to be non-trivially good” (Lecture 9/28). Without a separation between morality and God’s commandments, there would be no way to know the true nature of morality. As Socrates attempted to demonstrate to Euthyphro, if one simply considers everything that God commands to be good, goodness loses its meaning. An idea of morality that is separate from religion shows that what God commands can be a part of what is moral, however, morality also reaches past these