Euthyphro (prophet)

Euthyphro of Prospalta (; grc, Εὐθύφρων Προσπάλτιος; fl. 400 BCE) was an ancient Athenian religious prophet (''mantis'') best known for his role in his eponymous dialogue written by the philosopher Plato. The debate between Euthyphro and Socrates therein influenced generations of theologians and gave rise to the question of the relationship between God and morality known as the Euthyphro dilemma.

Life

Euthyphro's biography can be reconstructed only through the details revealed by Plato in the ''Euthyphro'' and '' Cratylus'', as no further contemporaneous sources exist. Debra Nails, ''The people of Plato: a prosopography of Plato and other Socratics''. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2002; pg. 152. While the dramatic date of the former may be definitively set at 399 BCE, the latter is uncertain, argued alternately as 422 and 399; John Sallis, ''Being and Logos'', University of Indiana Press, 1997; pg. 230. this makes gauging Euthyphro's period of activity difficult, but the former dating paradigm suggests that he may have been a long-lived figure in Athens. He was an Athenian citizen of the Prospalta deme old enough to have appeared multiple times before the Athenian assembly in 399, placing his birth somewhere in the mid-5th century. From his appearance in ''Cratylus'' we know that he was probably in his mid-forties in the ''Euthyphro'' dialogue and that his father was probably in his seventies, making Euthyphro's father almost an exact contemporary of Socrates. Euthyphro had evidently farmed on Naxos, probably as part of the ''cleruchy'' established by Pericles in 447 to which his father may have belonged. If in fact historical, the trial he instigated against his father depicted in the ''Euthyphro'' may have begun as early as 404. John Burnet, ''Plato's ''Euthyphro, Apology'' and ''Crito. Oxford: Clarendon, 1924 Euthyphro seems to have brought charges against his own father for leaving a paid laborer to die in a ditch after the laborer had killed another worker during a fight, though it is likely that Euthyphro did not expect serious punishment to be implemented for this crime.

Euthyphro's status as a "mantic" seer is supported by both texts. Although Socrates seems to treat this faculty with ironic disdain, he never criticizes it openly. It is implied that the other Athenian citizens at the Ecclesia often responded to Euthyphro's claims of divination with disdain and scorn. Both dialogues attest to Euthyphro's particular interest in father-gods such as Uranus, Cronus and Zeus, and Socrates accredits Euthyphro with igniting deep inspiration during the etymological exercise he embarks upon in the ''Cratylus''.

It is entirely possible as well that Euthyphro was created by Plato as a literary device. His name in ancient Greek is ironically "straight thinker" or "Mr. Right-mind." A combination of εὐθύς (euthys), which means straight or direct and φρονέω (phroneô) which means to think or to reason.

Legacy

While little remains of Euthyphro's life, his depiction in Plato sparked interest in many generations of scholars and commentators. Diogenes Laërtius depicts him as being swayed away from the prosecution of his father following the ''aporia'' demonstrated in his eponymous dialogue. Inspired by this ''aporia'', the Euthyphro dilemma arose within antiquity and was revived by Ralph Cudworth and Samuel Clarke in the 17th and 18th centuries,Terence Irwin, "Socrates and Euthyphro: The Argument and its Revival" (2006) remaining relevant in theological and philosophical discussions for centuries thereafter.

See also

*List of speakers in Plato's dialogues

References

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4th-century BC Athenians
5th-century BC Athenians
Prophets
Dialogues of Plato
Greek prosecutors