Euthyphro's Socratic Argument

In his emphasis on virtue and the search for guidance within it, Socrates applies his Socratic method in the Euthyphro, the Apology, and the Crito as a means to alter the fixed mindsets and behaviors of the antagonists that surround him. For example, the individual responsibility of moral obligation is defended by Socrates’ conceptual mode of his philosophical method in his tearing down of his subjects’ preconceived notions on a topic, such as that of ‘What is piety?’ in Plato’s Euthyphro. In the Euthyphro, Socrates begs this importance of moral judgment by asking Euthyphro whether “the pious [is] loved by the gods because it is pious? Or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?” (Plato 52). Euthyphro, seeing how the second claim is irrational, …show more content…
Because Socrates wants to guide Euthyphro in recognizing his flawed argument rather than simply point out its flaws to him, he only questions Euthyphro. For example, when Socrates asks “But wasn’t it also said that the gods quarrel…and differ with each other…?”, Euthyphro concurs, even though he previously declared that what is holy is what is agreeable to the gods (Plato 49). Because the dialogue ends with Socrates leaving it to Euthyphro to figure out on his own how to solve this moral dilemma, it is clear that Socrates is not trying to indoctrinate Euthyphro or deny the existence of divinity (Plato 61). He is simply saying that we don’t need to appeal to religion to justify morality, exposing a fairly unobtrusive side of his …show more content…
After Crito, an old and trusted friend, comes to help Socrates escape his death, Socrates declines the offer due to his belief that if he were to escape he would in turn be breaking the law, thus cuing in the conflict between morality and legality (Plato 101). Once Socrates and Crito begin discussing whether it is acceptable for Socrates to escape his unjust but lawfully enforced punishment, Socrates uses direct question-answer dialogue to reinstate precepts that he and Crito had previously agreed upon in hopes of convincing his friend that he should remain in prison (Plato 104-108). At large, Socrates wishes to remain in prison on account of his belief of the social contract that exists between him and Athens, for by living in the city for so long, he has hence devoted himself to obeying its laws (Plato 109). Acknowledging that he owes much of his education and protection to Athens, Socrates figures it would be wrong to bite the hand who fed him, revealing a somewhat righteous trait of himself (Plato 113). Socrates suggests that deceiving the law would in effect deceive his fellow citizens and government, as he asks Crito “does it seem possible to you for a city to continue to exist…in which the judgments that are reached…are rendered ineffective and are corrupted by private men?”