Socrates has been charged by Meletus for corrupting the minds of the young of Athens and for inventing new gods of his own invention and imagination instead of the recognised by the state. In answering to these charges brought against, he jokingly asked Meletus whether he really exercised the best of influence on the young or it was somebody else who really had that power over them.

Here Socrates applied his usual way of cross-examining (elenchus) which involves the interlocutor to convince the other that he does not really know what he initially supposed to know and this way his argument was refuted. By a series of questions he led Meletus to say that it was the citizenry of Athens as a whole except Socrates that led the young astray.

On another occasion he applied his method against Euthyphro triumphantly. He offered himself to learn from Euthyphro who prosecuted his own father for murdering one of his servants the distinction between piety and impiety. Eythyphro said that piety is like prosecuting the unjust, those who have committed wrong like murder and sacrilege and bringing the unjust to book. And on the other hand, impiety is a gross violation like failure and unwillingness to prosecute the wrong-doers. Eythyphro also said that piety is what is pleasing to the gods.

Socrates rejected his idea on the plea that the gods do not always see eye to eye with one another in attitudes concerning the acts of human beings and at the same time is not the right thing to say that the pious is what all the gods en bloc love for the particular issue concerns the nature of piety by virtue of which all the gods love it. If piety is tendering due attention to the gods by way of prayer and worship with a view to getting benevolence for man, the piety seems to be the pet thing of the gods even though it is of no consequence to the gods but this goes against the claim that piety is good not because that that gods love it. At this Eythyphro started complaing that Socrates will not allow his statements “to stand still” by his questioning in perpetuity and in the end Euthyphro was forced to drop anchor by saying that he no longer knew what to say.

Categories: Opinion [t]

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