I have decided to read through the complete works of Plato. Euthyphro is my first dialogue in this Plato Project. I ended up reading it 4 times within 4 different translations. In this episode, I give a brief overview of the dialogue, talk about piety and if/when this word shows up in Homer, the Greek Tragedies, and elsewhere, and cover each of the answers and responses between Euthyphro and Socrates.

Socrates has asked Euthyphro if piety and impiety take on an essential form. Poor Euthyphro thinks he is wise by giving particular example after particular example, but Socrates is after something deeper. Will we get to a form of piety and impiety that can be referenced in all circumstances? The stakes are high. Socrates has just been charged with impiety in corrupting the youth, creating new gods, and forsaking the old gods. If he can’t answer this charge, he’s in trouble. He’s hoping Euthyphro can give him a piety form. Or is Socrates just prodding Euthyphro to see if he knows what he is taking about?

Here are the four versions I read:

* Complete Works - edited by John M. Cooper - translated by G.M.A. Grube

* Penguin Classics The Last Days of Socrates - translated by Hugh Tredennick and Harold Tarrant (intro)

* Loeb Classical Library - translated by Harold North Fowler

* Collected Dialogues - edited by Edith Hamilton & Huntington Cairns - translated by Lane Cooper

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The Notebooks of Euthyphro

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