Study Questions for Euthyphro
in Cahn and Markie, eds., Ethics (2009)
The numbers following the questions correspond to the marginal page and section numbers in the text. (These are called Stepanus numbers.)
1. Who is Euthyphro (what is his main social role, his relationship to Socrates)? (3c-e)
2. What is his primary concern at the dramatic time of the dialogue? (3e-4e)
3. What is the main thing Socrates tries to get from Euthyphro? Why? (5c-d)
4. How does Euthyphro define "holy" or "holiness"? (Find 3-6 different ways.) (5d and 6d; 7a; 9d; 12e; 14d; 15b)
5. How does Socrates raise doubts about these "definitions"? (His method is not the same in all cases.) (6d-e; 7b-8a; 9e-11b; 15a; 15c. These passages contain challenges to the "definitions" to which question 4 refers except for the incomplete definition at 12e.)
6. Does Socrates receive a satisfactory answer to the question around which this dialogue is organized? (15d-16a)