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Essay on Plato's Euthyphro
Euthyphro denies that piety is incarnate. He does not believe that piety is embodied in the ways and beliefs of his culture. He does not look to his ancestors to understand what piety is. On the contrary, as we have seen, he thinks their beliefs are irrelevant. Piety, for Euthyphro, is something completely abstract. He thinks one cannot learn anything about the ideal by looking at the actual. The actual has nothing to teach us. When Plato wishes to teach us about piety, he does not give us an abstract definition; he gives us a particular incarnation of it, viz., Socrates. We must seek the reality through its appearance. We learn about piety by observing its earthly, imperfect manifestations. If Euthyphro cared about knowing piety itself, his concern would not be to seem pious but to be pious. Knowledge of piety in the full sense, for Plato, involves taking on the character of the thing known. No one understands goodness who is not good, justice who is not just, piety who is not pious. Euthyphro's concern is not with being but with seeming.
Consider first his fragmented understanding. He focuses on one part of piety, "Prosecute the wrongdoer." (Plato, 1998) He has no understanding of the whole of which this is a part. This results in an obsession and an imbalance. One fragment of piety or justice fills up his mind. He does not respect the other relevant maxims that would check his course of action, for example, "Do not harm your parents." (Plato, 1998) He therefore carries his principle to a fanatical extreme. In this respect he is an ideologue.
Second, Euthyphro has a shallow understanding. There are two main reasons. First, he loves appearance rather than reality. He is overly concerned with his opinion of himself and with others' opinion of him................
