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Single Idea 336
[filed under theme 28. God / A. Divine Nature / 6. Divine Morality / b. Euthyphro question
]
Full Idea
Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because they love it?
Gist of Idea
Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because they love it? (the 'Euthyphro Question')
Source
Plato (Euthyphro [c.398 BCE], 10a)
Book Ref
Plato: 'The Last Days of Socrates', ed/tr. Tredennick,Hugh [Penguin 1969], p.31
A Reaction
The famous Euthyphro Question, the key question about the supposed religious basis of morality. The answer of Socrates is Idea 337.
Related Idea
Idea 337
It seems that the gods love things because they are pious, rather than making them pious by loving them [Plato]
The
20 ideas
with the same theme
[which comes first - morality or God(s)?]:
4013
|
And God saw the light, that it was good
[Anon (Tor)]
|
1657
|
Socrates holds that right reason entails virtue, and this must also apply to the gods
[Vlastos on Socrates]
|
336
|
Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because they love it? (the 'Euthyphro Question')
[Plato]
|
337
|
It seems that the gods love things because they are pious, rather than making them pious by loving them
[Plato]
|
2627
|
I wonder whether loss of reverence for the gods would mean the end of all virtue
[Cicero]
|
1515
|
Pythagoreans believe it is absurd to seek for goodness anywhere except with the gods
[Iamblichus]
|
23178
|
Divine law commands some things because they are good, while others are good because commanded
[Aquinas]
|
7399
|
Even without religion, there are many guides to morality
[Bacon]
|
6892
|
Moral principles have some validity without a God commanding obedience
[Grotius, by Mautner]
|
19330
|
If justice is arbitrary, or fixed but not observed, or not human justice, this undermines God
[Leibniz]
|
5642
|
For Shaftesbury, we must already have a conscience to be motivated to religious obedience
[Shaftesbury, by Scruton]
|
18242
|
Confucius shows that ethics can rest on reason, rather than on revelation
[Wolff, by Korsgaard]
|
5633
|
We don't accept duties as coming from God, but assume they are divine because they are duties
[Kant]
|
8046
|
We can only know we should obey God if we already have moral standards for judging God
[Kant, by MacIntyre]
|
3721
|
We judge God to be good by a priori standards of moral perfection
[Kant]
|
6199
|
Obligation does not rest on the existence of God, but on the autonomy of reason
[Kant]
|
3780
|
We must judge a thing morally to know if it conforms to God's will
[Bentham]
|
19454
|
A God needs justice, kindness and wisdom, but those concepts don't depend on the concept of God
[Feuerbach]
|
2609
|
If God's decrees are good, and this is not a mere tautology, then goodness is separate from God's decrees
[Russell]
|
4350
|
If people are virtuous in obedience to God, would they become wicked if they lost their faith?
[Hursthouse]
|