The concept of holiness emerges I wrote thanks to essays masters help in the dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro when Euthyphro states that prosecuting own father can be viewed as a pious action. Since Socrates is being accused of corrupting the youth of Athens, denying the existence of gods and believing to be guilty of impiety, he starts a conversation with Euthyphro, which later evolves into religious discussion. Socrates wanted to see if Euthyphro understands what holiness is. It takes a prominent position in the conversation because it becomes obvious to Socrates that Euthyphro does not have a clear definition on what piety is since he keeps changing his mind. Socrates remains persistent on his attempts to get a clear definition from Euthyphro what impiety really means, because impiety is the charge against him.

According to the Euthyphro’s first definition, piety means persecuting anyone who is guilty in committing a murder particularly. However, in my opinion, it can be extended to any other crime or immoral action. He says that it does not matter in what kind of relationship one is with a person, because every guilty person should be punished. What is more, not to prosecute this person is viewed as impiety as well. Socrates doubts Euthyphro’s claim that he knows what piety is. Socrates is trying to show Euthyphro that his statement has no foundation; thus, it cannot represent the objective reality. Socrates does that in a rhetorical way by asking Euthyphro various questions and questioning his arguments that are based on gods’ behavior. What Socrates is trying to do is to confuse Euthyphro. Socrates knows that he will not be able to answer the questions since there is no one particular answer. Basically, Socrates rejects this definition, because Euthyphro gives some examples instead of defining what piety means.

The second definition says that piety is something that can please gods, while impiety is something that makes them dissatisfied or angry. Socrates argues that people’s understanding and perception of such notions as good or bad, honorable or dishonorable varies from person to person and this is what makes people different from one another. Moreover, it leads to conflicts since people cannot reach consensus. Actually, this is one of the main reasons why people cannot say that one particular action is good and another one is bad since what is acceptable for one person can be completely unacceptable for another.

The third definition states that piety refers to all things or actions that the gods love. On the other hand, impiety is everything that gods hate. However, things that some gods love and others hate can be considered as both pious and impious or neither. In this case, Socrates tries to examine the nature of holiness, discover the causation and relation between love and holiness and understand which one of these comes first. He argues that action precedes the actual state of action. In addition to that, he questions Euthyphro’s statement that everything that is loved by gods is considered to be holy and proves that love and holiness are completely different things.

Socrates is challenging Euthyphro’s view of piety or justice by asking him provocative questions, which cannot really be answered. I believe that the goal of Socrates is to show that when it comes to defining such abstract concepts as piety or justice, it is impossible to explain them using such words as right or wrong, good or bad, moral or immoral. The reason for this is that none of these words can actually reflect the true meaning of justice or piety since all of them are too narrow or concrete. The main point of discussion is not to understand whether or not Euthyphro is right in his decision to persecute own father but to demonstrate the ability to provide objective and rational support for own arguments. In my opinion, Euthyphro represents young generation of people who tend to take things to extremes, while Socrates tries to balance between the opposite ideas searching for happy medium.

The way Socrates leads the discussion reveals his goal, which is to prove that there is no true definition of holiness. Searching for the truth, Socrates builds his arguments through questions. The method he is using is aimed to show how little people know about the subject of discussing. Socrates asks Euthyphro what piety is and once the latter replies, Socrates asks a set of questions that lead to answers. Actually, it only proves that the original Euthyphro’s arguments are wrong. When Euthyphro realizes that his answer is not valid, Socrates asks him the same very first question about piety. In such a way, Socrates makes Euthyphro doubt own logic and reasoning. Rather than giving concrete answers, Socrates encourages his readers and opponents to think critically and choose own arguments carefully.

It is hard to define piety since this word has so many different meanings and implications. Every person understands it differently based on personal beliefs and moral values. In my opinion, piety means striving to do good things in the name of God. Piety is something that comes from the inside and represents the will of God. My Socratic response to this definition of piety is that no one can really know what God expects from people. What they think is right has actually more to do with their own moral system and understanding of good since everyone interprets God’s words differently.