Plato’s Euthyphro

Week 3: Form, Style, and Content

The “Socratic Problem”

It is impossible to tackle Plato seriously without encountering the so-called “Socratic Problem” or “Socratic Question”. The problem can be stated simply, but the solution is elusive. The problem is this. The person speaking and propounding ideas in Plato’s works is nearly always Socrates, but Plato wrote those works after his master’s death. How far do the works present an accurate account of what Socrates said and believed?

Students of the Socratic Problem may consider evidence internal to Plato’s works. Socrates dominates nearly all of them while Plato barely appears (he is mentioned briefly in the Apology as attending Socrates’ trial). The figure of Socrates is lifelike, and his interlocutors are (mostly) real historical persons encountered in real historical locations. Many of the dialogues present a recurring pattern: an interlocutor attempts to define a moral concept (justice, courage, piety) and Socrates poses questions challenging the offered definitions without necessarily offering a definition of his own.

Students of the Socratic Problem may consider external evidence as well. Socrates left no written works and there are few ancient sources other than Plato that provide information about him. Aristophanes’ satirical play The Clouds, staged during Socrates’ lifetime, presents Socrates as an oddball teacher of physics. Xenophon wrote several works depicting Socrates, including a collection called the Memorabilia, to which there is a link on the Extras page. Xenophon’s Socrates dispenses practical advice about self-improvement, personal relationships, and even farming. Both Aristophanes and Xenophon appear to depict a Socrates different from the one we meet in Plato.

Based on the internal and external evidence, scholars have come to different conclusions about the Socratic Problem. Some scholars have discerned an evolution of the philosophical views expressed in Plato’s works, dividing them into Early, Middle, and Late dialogues. The majority view is that the Early dialogues are closest to the historical Socrates and that the later dialogues reflect Plato’s own developing philosophy. You can read more about competing theories at Wikipedia here, or follow up the links found there.

Whether or not we solve the Socratic Problem, we can address the works themselves, which is a perfectly valid activity even if we are never entirely sure about who ought to get the credit for the ideas expressed. At bottom, it may matter less whether their ultimate source is Plato or Socrates than what truths they contain and can convey to us — just as we can appreciate the plays of Shakespeare, even if we remain agnostic about whether they were written by William Shakespeare, the glover’s son of Stratford, by Edward DeVere, the Earl of Oxford, or by some other person.

Literary form and style

Most of Plato’s works are dialogues in the sense that they consist largely of conversations involving Socrates and other named characters. There is an interesting distinction between “performed” dialogues that contain conversation only, and “narrated” dialogues where a character reports and comments on the conversation. Each dialogue presents a specific conversation with one or more specific interlocutors in a specific situation. Unlike many philosophers, Plato usually does not elaborate a general philosophical theory.

The style of the dialogues is generally lively and colloquial, though there are some technical and abstruse passages. Socrates is presented as curious and humorous, conversing easily with others and even making jokes and puns. One recurring feature is Socratic Irony, his claim not to know things about moral concepts that others confidently attempt to define. Several of the dialogues foreshadow – something the original readers would know very well — the trial and death of Socrates on charges of refusing to respect the traditional gods and corrupting young people.

The Form of the Euthyphro

The Euthyphro is a performed dialogue. There is no narrator, so we do not hear anyone reacting to the conversation. Like other Platonic dialogues, it focuses on a single moral concept, in this case piety. There is a single interlocutor, Euthyphro, who proposes multiple definitions of piety, only to run into critical questions from Socrates.

Unlike other performed dialogues that launch immediately into moral reasoning, the Euthyphro has an extended introduction. Socrates and Euthyphro meet in the marketplace outside a court building. Socrates has come to attend a preliminary hearing about the charges against him brought by a man named Meletus, charges that are to result in his condemnation and death. Euthyphro has come on a judicial cause of his own, to prosecute his own father for murder. We hear the background of this rather startling lawsuit, which Euthyphro asserts is a pious act. This turns the conversation to the definition of piety, which occupies the rest of the work.

The Style of the Euthyphro

Socrates speaks with Euthyphro in a jesting tone. It appears that several of the jokes go over Euthyphro’s head. That is to say, Socrates is not frank with Euthyphro, though Euthyphro does not appear to recognize this.

The conversation in the Euthyphro sounds natural, but Plato has embedded several interesting themes beneath the surface. Socrates’ trial and condemnation are foreshadowed in the fact that the characters meet outside the courthouse and the focus of their conversation is piety, a concept central to the charges against Socrates.

The extended introduction of the dialogue gives Plato an opportunity to compare and contrast Euthyphro with Socrates’ accuser, Meletus. Both have brought lawsuits involving piety. Euthyphro claims to serve piety even if it results in his father’s condemnation; Meletus is charging Socrates with offenses against piety, the proper service of the gods. This is an issue we can pursue further in class.

Another underlying theme is Socrates’ response for a definition of piety, a demand the reader has seen in other dialogues. We will have occasion to discuss whether Socrates’ demand makes sense, and whether it rules out answers that we might want to explore.

If you’re reading along in Greek, cover 6a6-8b6. (Longer because you have two weeks for this one.)