Euthyphro dilemma

The Honors Program allows me to be easily submersed in my studies and engage in discussions with students and professors who are similarly immersed in their studies. There is an immense difference in participating in a class where everyone comes prepared and has profitable insight and opinions in the material and a class where the only one who cares and came to class prepared is someone you must peer into a reflection to see. Last semester, for example, I found myself thoroughly enjoying the…

“Is something good because God likes it? Or does God like things because they are good?” This was the question asked by Socrates during his discussion on Piety with Euthyphro. This question is still a point of contention for philosophers to this day, and is known as “Euthyphro’s Dilemma.” There are two main forms of thought on this issue. The first, known as Divine Subjectivism, is the belief that something is good because God like it. The second, known as Divine Objectivism, is the belief that…

each of the sections one is able to see the dilemma Socrates battles from philosophical questions, being put on trial for crimes he did not commit, given the dilemma to escape his death or face the punishment, and an explanation of why he was not afraid to die. By the end of the Phaedo it’s easy to see why Socrates is thought of as one of the greatest philosophers of the time with how he justly handles each problem he faces throughout his life. A. Euthyphro For the question of “Do the god’s…

the messenger for some external force. You can break these two horns and create a third horn that states that God’s nature determines morality not his will or judgment. This creates a new dilemma that asks, does God have control over his nature or does he not have control over his nature? By splitting the dilemma, it will fall back into itself. 4. Tom Regan claims that people who say a dog doesn’t feel pain are committed to the view that other humans don’t feel pain either. Why would he think…

My thesis is that Socrates does not present good arguments. In Socrates’ argument that piety is dependent on the gods, Socrates uses a series of analogies that are relatable to piety. Socrates describes the physical state of carrying or leading objects and that to be carried or led, they must have been put into that state by something carrying them. Thus, the things being carried are in a state of being carried and since piety is a mental state, it is parallel to the state of being carried.…

Ethics is the philosophical study of morality. In other words, it is the study of what is wrong and right, good or bad. Humanity has been intrigued with the answer to these subject matters for hundreds of years. In that time there have been several philosophers such as Aristotle who have formulated moral theories like Virtue ethics. Not all of these theories are put in practice today but they do help in the solving of moral issues. One such experiment which has been brought about by the…

Kretzman asserts that in order to understand dilemmas such as the Aquedah and the Euthyphro, we must consider that God offers an objective, universal morality in which God himself can be equated to goodness. This paper will examine what makes Kretzman's solution successful, as well as analyze the idea of a perfect God as a moral standard. Kretzman is successful in offering an explanation for religion-based morality. He manages to capture ideas that theological objectivism and theological…

The current thesis endeavors to access the notion of “ Nothing is true, everything is permitted.” What is truth? What is so intricately responsible and substantial as to justify the real in depths of truth? Is truth ‘true’? What is ‘true’ then? “To say that nothing is true, is to realize that the foundations of society are fragile, and that we must be the shepherds of our own civilization. Everything is permitted... is to understand that we are the architects of our actions and we must live…

When considering morality from a religious standpoint, a conclusion is often drawn, particularly in monotheistic religions, that goodness is an absolute concept, dictated by a set of God-given rules. It is logical to assume that God, as an omniscient, transcendent and ultimately perfect being, would be the source of moral command. Often, divine moral command is delivered to believers through scripture; however, it is argued that the moral teachings arising from such scripture cannot be absolute…

When one first begins to consider the nature of morality, many of the fundamentals of moral philosophy are brought to a space of intellectual questioning. One begins to ask oneself questions about whether morality can have objective truth, how can one know what is right and wrong and even why should I be moral? Additionally, many intuitively believe, and are taught through their religions, that God and religion play a large role in morality. The Divine Command Theory is a meta-ethical theory…