Are Socrates’ charges, corrupting the youth, creating new gods and not believing in the old gods legitimate? Is this a fair trial?
Throughout Plato’s Euthyphro, the characters of Socrates and Euthyphro are discussing back and forth, what is good and right and what is simply not.
These charges do not seem to be legitimate because they are based off of accusations and not a direct knowledge as to what actually occurred. But the “corrupting the youth charges” later becomes a more secured offence. Socrates’ charge about not believing in the gods is clarified when he says “I find it hard to accept [stories] people tell about the gods? I expect that I shall be found at fault because I doubt these stories” (pg 6, section 6). He goes on to explain his doubt about the god’s powers and attributes to society to Euthyphro. Socrates later becomes worried that the gods will fight over disagreements that occur between people and possibly between the gods themselves. An example of this is shown when Socrates says that “some of the gods [may] think one thing [is] just [and] the others another” (pg 8, section 8).
But in order to answer this question, which has made me think about many of our day-to-day choices, Euthyphro’s idea of “righteousness and piety are that part of justice which has to do with the careful attention which ought to be paid to the gods” (pg 16, Section 14) is what has clarified my thoughts about this question.
In our modern day society this trial would not be fair, legal or legitimate, but in the time this was written this trial could very well seem to be legitimate. But I am left to wonder if Socrates’ charges are fair and just. As far as I believe and know that in this time period this trial would be legitimate. But I enjoy that fact that in our modern times this trial would never be just and right because we are taught that people have different beliefs and we do not all have to think the same. Individuality in modern society is what is keeping people happy and thus not making us become different people, who make bad decisions and people lead us into situations we would not like to be in.
Citation: Plato, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1948. 1-20. Print.
Good work. You make some good points - it is useful to keep the cultural context of the text in mind as you answer this question. However, when it comes to determining whether this trial is legitimate, it is easy to fall back on the simple distinction between our society and that of Socrates. I would like to see you make your own arguments about whether or not the charges are fair - rather than stating what would have been fair at a particular moment in time.
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