Euthyphro
Plato c. 395 BCE
A short dialogue follows Socrates and Euthyphro as they question what makes an action holy. Outside an Athenian court, Euthyphro explains why he is bringing a murder charge against his own father.
33 pages 38 min reading time
- One of the most widely read dialogues of Plato, often the first piece of philosophy that students meet.
- Asks the famous question of whether something is good because the gods love it, or whether the gods love it because it is good.
- Shows Socrates testing each answer Euthyphro gives until it falls apart, so that the two men end without agreeing on what holiness is.
- Its central question, now called the Euthyphro dilemma, is still argued over today by thinkers debating whether right and wrong can depend on God's commands.
- It became a model for the "Socratic method," the style of teaching through careful questions that is still used in classrooms and law schools.
Set just before a trial
Socrates is at court to face charges of disrespecting the gods, charges that soon led to his death.
Written after his teacher died
Plato, a young follower of Socrates, wrote it some years after Athens put Socrates to death.
First of four last days
Ancient editors placed it first in a set with Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, which follow Socrates to his death.
Probably a real man
Euthyphro was likely a real Athenian who claimed to know about religion, and Plato mentions him in another dialogue.
Translated from Greek by Benjamin Jowett