In Plato's five dialogues, particularly in the Euthyphro and the Apology, Plato uses characters to bring out the overall definition of philosophy and of his practice. In Euthyphro, Socrates illustrates how difficult the practice of philosophy can be, even to obtain a single definition. To do this, you need to ask a series of questions and draw connections between the possible answers. However, Socrates believes that the main purpose of this practice is to get people, like Euthyphro, to recognize their own places of ignorance. Even though Socrates was sometimes ineffective, it is important to engage in such practice in order to move closer to understanding or realize the lack of it. In the Apologies we can hear Socrates' explanation of his ways and what he believes to be the true purpose of philosophy. All of this eludes his striving for human wisdom, the key that most people lack in their lives. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayFor Socrates, Euthyphro's decision to indict his father was peculiar and so he is fascinated by the reasoning behind his choice. In their conversation, the distinction between general and special moral duties seems to be the main reason why Euthyphro can ignore the person he accuses is his father and instead pursue what he believes to be justice. General moral duties are duties that one owes to everyone at all times and in all places, while special moral duties are those that one owes to a particular person or group in particular circumstances. For Euthyphro, he neglects particular moral duties and focuses on his father's case. In the text he states: “It is ridiculous, Socrates, to think that it makes any difference whether the victim is a stranger or a relative. We only need to monitor whether the killer acted justly or not” (4c). Here, Plato uses these concepts in the Euthyphro to argue that, on a case-by-case basis, people will relate to special or general moral duties. This decision highlights the difficulty of truly knowing which path is the right one, the most just or rather the most pious action. Socrates then studies Euthyphro's conception of piety, for Euthyphro obviously must feel in agreement with piety. However, in discussing with Socrates, Plato shows through the text that Euthyphro does not have a clear understanding of his definition as he thought. The ambiguity of piety shows that philosophical definitions are not about the word itself, but about the thing it is trying to describe. In order to have a satisfactory definition of the expression of the essence of x, in this case piety, a few conditions must be met. The essence expression will tell us the characteristic or set of characteristics that for one all x's have in common and two make x's what they are, showing only what x's have. Euthyphro's first definition of piety, that what he is doing right now, is a failure because it only gives an example of piety, but does not explain what piety is. “Whether the doer of evil be your father, your mother, or someone else; not to pursue is impious” (5e). Since Euthyphro is in the spirit of general moral duties, it follows that believing that his action of suing his father is the right way to correct the injustice. Yet Socrates attempts to reveal to Euthyphro that without a form of piety it would be difficult to evaluate other actions as such, that it would require knowledge agreed upon by man and ultimately by the gods. Leading to the second definitionof Euthyphro, what is pious is what is loved or dear to the gods, also proves problematic because it leaves room for contradiction to the extent that unless we know what the gods love and what they hate, some cases could be both pious and ungodly. “They do not dispute that the wrongdoer should be punished, but they may disagree about who the wrongdoer was, what he did, and when” (8d). This kind of dispute, whether between men or between gods, is a problem and has bad consequences both practical and logical. Practically, in a court of law, this would be bad because the Athenians don't want to do anything that is not loved by the gods and it is logically bad because if pious and impious are meant to be opposites or contrary, something does not should not be able to be both pious and impious. ungodly at the same time. In an attempt to refine his answer, Euthyphro then comes to his third definition and says that the definition of piety is what all the gods love. This definition fails once again because it is unclear how the “is” is supposed to be interpreted. This can be seen as either a marker of identity or a universal correlate of dependence. If east suggests sameness, then piety and all gods love would be equal. By this definition, anyone could say that their action is what is pious and therefore loved by all gods, but there would be no way to prove what all gods love versus what all gods love hate or disagree. Socrates also points out that “if the pious were loved because he was pious, he whom God loves would also be loved because he was loved by God; and if the beloved god were loved by God because he was loved by the gods, then the pious would also be pious because he is loved by the gods” (11b). Here he shows that if piety and love of God are identical the definitions cannot hold because they suggest dependence on one another. Piety would be a relative property, that is to say that it is only situated in relation to the love of God. This sheds light on the second interpretation, as it is a universal correlation with addiction. This would amount to saying that if x exists, y exists, so if piety exists, love of the gods also exists. Yet this only explains one type of addiction and does not account for others, such as ungodliness and splitting. Euthyphro gives a fourth definition before this, but without completing it, he excuses himself and flees to court, leaving Socrates without an answer or true clarity of piety. However, Socrates was more occupied with the interrogation than the need for a direct answer and he too had his own indictment to go where he was the one being judged. In the apology, Socrates is in court defending why the rumors were spread. about him. For Socrates, philosophy, through what he does, is an endless struggle against reprehensible ignorance and the pursuit of human wisdom. This notion of wisdom was born in his defense since most people do not understand his practice and to try to explain his use of conversation, separating answers and questions, he explains that the oracle Delphi told him that He was the wisest of all men. At first, Socrates did not believe this to be true and to test what Delphi was telling him, he set out to speak with many different men in different fields, such as politicians, poets and artisans. None of these men, except the craftsmen, displayed true human wisdom, but even the craftsmen had very little in any one area. Socrates states: "As a result of my research, men of Athens, I have acquired great unpopularity...of.