Socrates’ one strength that supercedes all the rest of his strengths is that instead of giving his own views and supporting them, he lets the “teacher” in the dialogue state his beliefs and then through questioning and logic has the “teacher” reduce his own argument to nothing. This method of dialogue allows the “teacher” to realize the error of their ways by actually working it out themselves and thus makes reexamination of their prior beliefs inevitable. Socrates had a mission and it didn’t revolve around indoctrination of the people. Instead he raised questions about orthodoxies that were never raised before and he challenged, and still challenges people to this day, to rethink the world they live in and the lives they lead. True knowledge lies in a person’s courage to raise questions and seek the truth to no end.

The one position that was obviously underdeveloped was the answer to the question what is piety. It goes without saying that throughout the span of the dialogue there never once comes a time when the two speakers come any closer to defining piety then when they first started. Another position, less subtle, was underdeveloped as well however. Socrates tells Euthyphro, ”I wanted you to tell me what is the essential form of holiness which makes all holy actions holy. I believe you held that there is one ideal form by which unholy things are all unholy, and by which all holy things are holy.” (6d – e). Socrates hints at a theory that would later be developed by his student Plato, the Theory of Forms. In his theory Plato says that abstract ideas have an ideal form that transcends their earthly form and is non-perishable. Although Socrates briefly mentions that piety must have an essential form that can be used to judge things as impious or pious, he never develops the idea into anything of substance like Plato would in the future.

This paper has provided the reader with a general summary of the introduction of the “Euthyphro”, examined the four attempts by the persons engaged in the dialogue to define holiness or piety, noted the philosophical advances of the work, the strengths of the philosopher, and the positions underdeveloped in the work.

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