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 line of credit between Socrates and Euthyphro, a self-declared prophet and prayerful man, over the nature of piety and level(p) of the gods themselves. The issues elevated in this dialogue have been reinterpreted and extended to remain relevant even with a modern theological framework, so much so that the primeval issue is now known simply as ?the Euthyphro dilemma.? This is based on Socrates? two-way choice which he offers in the dialogueConsider this Is the pious being love by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is being loved by the gods? (10a)In the context 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 advance ado, and the imp lication 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 Zeus were castrated what mixed bag 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 decide what duty is? If so, then good is more or less the arbitrary conclusiveness of a frightening being to which we cannot relate, and that being could just as intimately have made murder and stealing the ultimate moral actions without whatever contradictions. On the other hand, if God did not decide what goodness is, he cannot truly be omnipo... ...urry now, and it is time for me to go (15e).Works CitedThe Tanakh. Jewish progeny Society, 1917.Grisham, Jules. Euthyphro, Gods Nature, And The Question Of Divine Attributes. Third Mill Magazine Online, Volume 4, come up 20. 20 May 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 woods University. 20 November 2002 <http//www.wfu.edu/Organizations/ncrsa/papers/gregrich.pdfSolomon, Norman. Judaism A Very Short Introduction. Oxford.