Ancient Greeks lives center on their gods, and their daily lives consist of trying to live as piously as possible. Piety is the core moral laws during this time. To live piously is to live in harmony with the gods. It is extremely important that they must please the gods, that to act any other ways, acting impiously, is illegal and will result in punishment. Socrates is one philosopher that lives during this time. Socrates would go about the city, questioning people about their beliefs and understanding of any subject. He believed that helping his fellow men understand that they do not truly know anything will be beneficial to them. As Apollo told Socrates, he is the wisest because he knows that he does not know. When Meletus accused
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After Meletus and his supporters summon Socrates on charges of impiety, Socrates immediately obeys, for he believe that he had done nothing wrong, and he can convince the jury of their wrongs. He head to King Archon, where he meet Euthyphro, a self-proclaim expert on piety, who was also there on matters relating to such topics. The two intellects discuss the nature of piety, upon which Socrates ask Euthyphro for his definition on piety. Euthyphro first answer piety in terms of justice and legal matters. In his first definition, piety is acting justly in punishing those who do wrong, regardless of who they are (Euthyphro, 5D-E). Seen in this definition are the legal laws tie in with piety. Euthyphro represents the common Ancient Athenians who believe in the legal status of piety and use piety to serve justice. Socrates questions the definition and on his second definition, Euthyphro answers, “pious is what all the gods love, and its opposite, what all gods hate, is the impious” (Euthyphro, 6E-7A). Socrates, as a philosopher, goes around asking and questioning people on their beliefs and their knowledge. This is something that some gods do not approve of for it means Socrates is acting outside his human realm. By Euthyphro’s definition, Socrates is impious because he is doing something some gods do not approve off. Only actions that all gods approve off are considered to be pious. However, if an action is already deem to not be pious, then it does not matter if all gods hate it, the people will see it was impious regardless. In Socrates case, they see Socrates as impious simply because he is not pious, which does not necessarily imply
After Meletus and his supporters summon Socrates on charges of impiety, Socrates immediately obeys, for he believe that he had done nothing wrong, and he can convince the jury of their wrongs. He head to King Archon, where he meet Euthyphro, a self-proclaim expert on piety, who was also there on matters relating to such topics. The two intellects discuss the nature of piety, upon which Socrates ask Euthyphro for his definition on piety. Euthyphro first answer piety in terms of justice and legal matters. In his first definition, piety is acting justly in punishing those who do wrong, regardless of who they are (Euthyphro, 5D-E). Seen in this definition are the legal laws tie in with piety. Euthyphro represents the common Ancient Athenians who believe in the legal status of piety and use piety to serve justice. Socrates questions the definition and on his second definition, Euthyphro answers, “pious is what all the gods love, and its opposite, what all gods hate, is the impious” (Euthyphro, 6E-7A). Socrates, as a philosopher, goes around asking and questioning people on their beliefs and their knowledge. This is something that some gods do not approve of for it means Socrates is acting outside his human realm. By Euthyphro’s definition, Socrates is impious because he is doing something some gods do not approve off. Only actions that all gods approve off are considered to be pious. However, if an action is already deem to not be pious, then it does not matter if all gods hate it, the people will see it was impious regardless. In Socrates case, they see Socrates as impious simply because he is not pious, which does not necessarily imply