First Paper Topic

Philosophy 1

Winter, 2006

Due: January 30, 2006, in class

Write an essay of roughly 5 pages on the following topic. Use the original writings of the philosophers as found in the text as the basis of your work. Be sure to quote the text whenever you attribute a claim to one of the philosophers. Papers not turned in on the day due will be penalized progressively, with the penalties increasing each two working days overdue. Papers should be double-spaced (3 lines per inch) with ample room in the margins for comments.

Socrates insisted in the Euthyphro that any discussion about whether specific acts are pious must begin by determining what makes all pious acts pious. Do you think this approach is correct? Why or why not?

Does Euthyphro's third account of piety (“a pious act is dear to all the gods”) satisfy Socrates’s condition?

Socrates claimed that the third account was nonetheless inadequate. His reason was that what makes the gods love an act is a feature of the act itself, and this feature is what makes the act pious. Explain Socrates’s position fully. Is it a good reason to reject the account? What could Euthyphro say in defense of it?

How might Plato's theory of Forms satisfy Socrates's search for an adequate account of piety?