Traditional And Utilitarian Approaches To The Euthyphro Dilemma Essay

Traditional And Utilitarian Approaches To The Euthyphro DilemmaIn the Euthyphro, Plato describes the proceedings of a largely circular argument between Socrates and Euthyphro, a self-declared prophet and pious man, over the nature of piety and even of the gods themselves. The issues raised in this dialogue have been reinterpreted and extended to remain relevant even with a modern theological framework, so much so that the central issue is now known simply as ?the Euthyphro dilemma.? This is based on Socrates? two-way resource which he offers in the dialogueConsider this Is the pious being loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is being loved by the gods? (10a)In the setting of the dialogue, this simply segues to a logical argument about the definition of piety, and the question is more or less rhetorical as Socrates asks it. When Euthyphro chooses the first option, the discussion moves on to his next point without further ado, and the implication that this limits the omnipotence of the gods is ignored, probably because the omnipotence of the pantheon of gods wasn?t an assumption of Greek theology (after all, as we read in the dialogue, the father and grandfather of genus Zeus were castrated what kind of omnipotent being would allow that to happen to himself?). However, when read with a Judeo-Christian concept of God in mind, the dilemma becomes thisDid God locate what goodness is? If so, then good is more or less the arbitrary decision of a frightening being to which we cannot relate, and that being could just as considerably have made murder and stealing the ultimate moral actions without any contradictions. On the other hand, if God did not decide what goodness is, he cannot really be omnipo... ...urry now, and it is time for me to go (15e).Works CitedThe Tanakh. Jewish Publication Society, 1917.Grisham, Jules. Euthyphro, Gods Nature, And The Question Of Divine Attributes. Third Mill Magazine Online, Volume 4, Number 20. 20 whit ethorn 2002 <http//www.thirdmill.org/files/english/html/th/TH.h.Grisham.Simplicity.1.htmlMacbeath, Murray. The Euthyphro Dilemma. Mind, New Series, Vol. 91, No. 364. Oct.1982. 565-571.http//links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-4423%28198210%292%3A91%3A364%3C565%3ATED%3E2.0.CO%3B2-RPlato. Five Dialogues. Indiana Hackett Publishing Company, 2002.Rich, Gregory P. Omnipotence And Gods Existence. North Carolina Religious Studies Association, Wake Forest University. 20 November 2002 <http//www.wfu.edu/Organizations/ncrsa/papers/gregrich.pdfSolomon, Norman. Judaism A Very Short Introduction. Oxford.