THE SOCRATIC DILEMMA: IS SOMETHING PIOUS BECAUSE GOD APPROVES OF IT? OR DOES GOD APPROVE OF IT BECAUSE IT IS PIOUS?
Have you heard of a man named Socrates? Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher from Athens (born 470 BCE and died 399 BCE) who is credited as a founder of Western philosophy and the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought. He was just a natural man and a standard for philosophers . A man named Meletus once charged Socrates to court for impiety on account that he did not acknowledge the Greek gods and goddesses. Socrates was a rational being and not a religious person. On his way to court, he met with a man called Euthyphro. They got into a conversation and Socrates came to know that Euthyphro was also charging his own father to court for impiety because his father tied up a slave and left him to starve to death and that was because that slave killed his fellow slave. Now Socrates was in dare need of someone to tell what piety means so he could defend himself in court. Euthyphro saw it as impiety for his father to take a life. Euthyphro’s f...