The four dialogues written by Plato (427-347 B.C.) depict his teacher, Socrates, in the moments surrounding his trial and his death. The first of the dialogues is Euthyphro, which is named after the conversation partner to Socrates about the subject of piety. Over the course of the conversation it is found that Euthyphro is less knowledgeable about the actual meaning of piety and can do little more than explaining examples or poorly structured definitions. The Apology, is the second of the dialogues in which Socrates is defending himself in his trial and merely speaking on his own behalf and not apologizing, as the title suggests. Although these dialogues are not written by Socrates, but rather his student, they still contain his ideas, logic and thoughts. Despite the passage of time there is a lot to be learned from these dialogues that still applies to people today.
In the first of the dialogues we find Socrates awaiting his trial as he begins speaking to Euthyphro about the charges brought against him. It is then that Socrates becomes aware that Euthyphro has planned to charge his father with the murder of one of the serfs. Socrates is almost baffled that Euthyphro would do something so radical. He says that a man must “have made great strides in wisdom, before he could have seen his way to this.” As the dialogue progresses we learn that Euthyphro is pursuing his father because it is his duty to be pious. It is then that Socrates begins to question him on what piety actually means. The dialogue continues with Euthyphro giving Socrates examples and definitions of what he believes piety to be. Socrates picks apart the definitions and begins to interrogate Euthyphro only to learn that Euthyphro does not understand the “idea” of piety, but only his own examples of it or what it means to him.
The Euthyphro is significant because it is depicts Socrates’ beliefs on ones self-awareness about how much they really know. Euthyphro claims to be pious or have pious...