Assignments for 7/16

7 Responses to Assignments for 7/16

1. pbm5069 says:

   July 17, 2013 at 8:58 pm

   At first I thought Socrates was supposed to be an all knowing teacher, but now, in this passage, I see how he is really just a normal guy asking questions others haven’t thought about or ideas others flat out rejected. He tries to understand why Euthyphro is a so called “expert” of the gods, and he contradicts him and pretty much owns Euthyphro in the end. Using ignorance, Socrates exposes how societal values sculpt who’s right and wrong. It’s kind of funny in a way, because Socrates, the “ignorant” one, makes Euthyphro look completely ignorant. Socrates is a really trippy guy, and sometimes it’s hard to understand exactly what he’s talking about, but I feel that’s just because their’s a century old language barrier between our societies. I like his style, and i can tell he was a genius in his time.
2. Zak Rosenberg says:

   July 16, 2013 at 2:21 am

   At first I thought Socrates was a benevolent teacher but now i see him as a smartass who thinks he is better than Euthyphro. That does not necessarily mean i disagree with him though. Socrates is right to be critical towards authority figures who claim to be experts because if they are experts they should be able to back their claims up (which Euthyphro is unable to do). I think Socrates is using irony because he is pretending to be a humble student, when in reality he is the teacher and is teaching Euthyphro that things are not as simple as you may think. Although from Euthyphro’s point of view, Socrates may seem like an annoying jerk, he is really helping him by exposing the flaws in his logic and understanding of piety
3. qwd5014 says:

   July 15, 2013 at 11:55 pm

   Quentin D’Adderio
   Phil 003

   At first I thought Socrates was just a regular philosopher , but now I think he is a genius. The conversation between Socrates and Euthyphro was absolutely incredible. Socrates completely made a fool out of Euthyphro and honestly it was hilarious. He basically hinted towards the fact the entire time that you can not believe everything someone tells you (the gods). Socrates talks about what is pious and what is impious. The way he really gets Euthyphro is talking about what gods think is pious and what they think is impious. He talks about how certain gods think certain things are pious, and some think some things are impious. He talks about how all the gods basically have there own opinions on what is pious and what is not, so he tells Euthyphro that nothing really the gods say or think is either pious or impious. One must make their own judgements on what is pious and what is impious. Euthyphro thinks what his father did was wrong and impious in front of the gods, but since Socrates proved the gods have different beliefs, I think it made Euthyphro question what is right and wrong. I really liked how Socrates brought up the original question he asked which was “what is pious” and Euthyphro ducked out of it and said he had to leave. He basically talked Euthyphro into saying that what Euthyphro believed was wrong. The conversation between the two was great and I think Socrates completely demolished him in terms of logic.
4. cvk5191 says:

   July 15, 2013 at 11:08 pm

   At first I thought Socrates was a looney, now I think he is a philosophical genius. At first I saw Socrates somewhat as the village idiot. We first learned that Socrates was being indicted for corrupting the youth. This made him seem like an individual that was not respected by his peers and that his ways of reasoning were not strong enough to sway everyone around him. Even when Euthyphro came along to talk to Socrates, Socrates made himself seem like Euthyphro was a smarter, superior individual. Socrates seemed to ask Euthyphro to explain his ideas and findings because he did not fully understand what he was saying, but we later learned that Socrates was almost attempting to deceive Euthyphro and bolster Euthyphro’s ego. Socrates would then turn the tide on Euthyphro and we learned that when Socrates was asking Euthyphro questions it was so that later in the conversation Socrates could make Euthyphro see where his reasoning had gone amiss. Socrates the continued to degrade Euthyphro with questions he already knew the answers to, all of which proved why Euthyphro’s reasoning was wrong. Socrates’ conversation with Euthyphro gives us insight to the genius that is Socrates’ mind. He in fact was not the village idiot, but he was a genius who was misunderstood by his peers. His doubters also did not take time to truly understand Socrates’ reasoning, for the automatically dismissed his teachings as a result of their undermining the gods. So far Socrates’ reasoning seems to be unflawed and he is able to think on his toes and come back with a quick rebuttal. Socrates uses his genius to make Euthyphro run away like a little girl when he could not think of anything else to say in his defense of Socrates’ verbal, philosophical bashing. So I also think that aside from being a genius Socrates was also a total boss. As I have stated before, at first I thought Socrates was a loony, now I think he is a philosophical genius.
   -Cory Klems
5. ebd5069 says:

   July 15, 2013 at 9:30 pm

   At first, I thought Socrates was just trying to prove a point by making Euthyphro look like a fool. But after the discussion today and re reading the text it is hard to say if he was just trying to embarrass Euthyphro or if he truly desired to learn something from him. I will take Socrates’ side though in the sense that in regard to both religious and filial piety, Euthyphro is not very humble and his moral fortitude is lacking. Socrates reacts to his pompous attitude that in a way seems douchey. But honestly both of these guys are acting kind of like children and it is up to the reader to interpret what Socrates intent was when he was grilling Euthyphro with these questions.
6. Jacob Jayne says:

   July 15, 2013 at 8:12 pm

   At first I thought Socrates was being a cocky ass, and I still think he is being cocky but there’s that sense of him actually wanting to know something. When I first read the dialogue, I interpreted it as Socrates wanting to prove that Euthyphro didn’t actually know what he was talking about. From reading about Socrates last year in high school, I know he did that to many people which made many angry ultimately leading to his death. But reading through it again and based on the discussion we had in class, I can see him actually wanting to know something from Euthyphro. He needs to know what pious and impious mean because it decides whether he lives or dies after his trial with Meletus. However, there still is that cocky notion because he is constantly trying to get Euthyphro to contradict himself, which only angers Euthyphro. That is mainly why he leaves Socrates because he is getting annoyed with him. So mainly, I can see it as being Socrates’ fault as to why he didn’t get a definition because he only challenged everything.
7. jca5211 says:

   July 15, 2013 at 3:19 pm

   At first, I thought Socrates was trying to be the best young scholar he could be, now I think he was definitely being a smartass. While I read this piece a second time, I began to realize what we discussed in class today was very true. There are times in this piece where you can tell when Socrates is just trying to get on Euthyphro’s nerves. Socrates is basically the only one who was trying to carry the conversation throughout this passage. Euthyphro gave Socrates one word answers to long questions Socrates would ask him. There was no reason for that. As the passage wore on, Socrates would get more and more sarcastic. All’s he wanted to know was what piety meant to him! And he wanted Euthyphro to explain why he is such an expert on piety, yet Euthyphro was having none of that. I think Socrates is just too witty. He is like that little knat that just wants to break everything down and find the meaning of it.