Question

Euthyphro presents himself as an authority about the gods of ancient Greece.

Group of answer choices

True

False

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Question 4 10 pts

Socrates finds that Euthyphro knows what he is talking about in ethics and the debate ends quickly with both of them in agreement.

Group of answer choices

true or false

Answer 1

1. Euthyphro presents himself as an authority about the gods of ancient Greece.

False

Euthyphro openly claims to be an expert on all religious matters, and that this is what makes him stand out from the average man. In response to that argument, Socrates suggests that Euthyphro may be able to teach him religious matters.

2. Socrates finds that Euthyphro knows what he is talking about in ethics and the debate ends quickly with both of them in agreement.

False

Socrates meets with Euthyphro outside Athens court. Meletus had called Socrates to court on charges of impiety, and Euthyphro came to sue his own father for accidentally murdering a killer hired worker. Socrates flatters Euthyphro, implying that if Euthyphro is willing to sue his own father on so dubious a charge, he must be a great expert in religious matters. Euthyphro admits that he does not know anything about what is sacred is to be understood. Socrates encourages Euthyphro to teach him what holiness is, since the teaching of Euthyphro will aid Socrates in his trial against Meletus.

Euthyphro mentions a persecution of religious believers through holiness. Socrates finds this description unsatisfactory because, apart from persecuting criminals, there are also holy deeds. Instead, he asks Euthyphro to give him a general description describing the one attribute all holy deeds have in common. Euthyphro argues that what is sacred is what is pleasing to the gods, in answer to which Socrates points out that the gods also quarrel, so that what is pleasing to one may not be pleasing to all.

The most significant attempt by Euthyphro to describe holiness comes with his assertion that what is holy is what the gods approve of. Socrates is putting up a very complex case to prove that the two can't be comparable. The gods approve of what is sacred, since it is sacred, because what is holy decides what the gods approve of. And what the gods in turn approve of decides what the gods approve of. From this logic it follows that what is sacred can not be the same thing as what the gods approve of, since one of these two decides what the gods approve of, and the other is decided by what the gods approve.