Question

The most famous question of the dialogue comes when Socrates asks “is the pious being loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is being loved by the gods? How does Socrates attempt to explain this question when Euthyphro does not understand? What exactly does the question mean?

Answer 1

The question means is an action morally right because God commands it, or does God command an action because it is right? Is something “good” because the Gods think it is good, or do the Gods approve of something only because it is “good”? Socrates attempts to explain this question by going into the differences and distinction between various situations like “it is not being seen because it is a thing seen but on the contrary, it is a thing seen because it is being seen” so instead of believing that something is pious because it’s loved by the Gods as Euthyphro argues or is it instead of let’s say it’s pious because it is being loved by them. Socrates argues that the pious is not the same as the god-beloved, for what makes the pious is not what makes the god-beloved the god-beloved. After all, what makes the god-beloved the god-beloved is the fact that the gods love it. It seems like an open-ended question with no truly correct answer just many arguments to be made.