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The Euthyphro Dilemma

Pompey Magnus · 2008-02-19 14:24:25

The Euthyphro Dilemma was raised by Plato in c375 BC, in his dialogue "Euthyphro" the character of Socrates (Plato's mouthpiece in his dialogues) asks Euthphro "Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?". Since it was first asked it has caused a problem for…

19-02-2008 3:24pm

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Pompey Magnus

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The Euthyphro Dilemma was raised by Plato in c375 BC, in his dialogue "Euthyphro" the character of Socrates (Plato's mouthpiece in his dialogues) asks Euthphro "Is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?". Since it was first asked it has caused a problem for believers to justify the idea of divine command and the legitimacy of the Bible as a moral code.

If the believer answers that good acts are good because God says so it means that adherents to these rules are blindly following an arbitrary authority. Things could have easily been different, for example God could have chosen that murder be good and it would have been absolutely moral to kill and to not kill would have been morally repugnant, it may seem strange but this argument claims that as God is the source of morality then murder in itself is not bad, it just was not chosen by God.

On the other hand if the believer answers that God commands us to act good because these are good acts in themselves, this means that good acts are independent of God and God and the Bible becomes optional in the equation.

The Euthyphro Dilemma poses a very tough question for the believer, is God arbitrary or irrelevant? Some believers go for the first option but say that God would never create a universe in which murder was moral, however this argument is self defeating as it is actually the second point in disguise, it assumes murdering to be a unalterably immoral and therefore again God becomes optional.

Has there ever been a satisfactory religious solution to the dilemma? I know many have tried and many have failed.

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