Plato's Euthyphro and Meno

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Purpose: An introduction to some of the main themes in the ethics and metaphysics in Plato’s earlier dialogues Outline: The Euthyphro, an early dialogue of Plato, is concerned with the question ‘What is it to be holy?’ The answer that gets most thoroughly discussed is that to be holy is to be loved by all the gods. This answer raises the problem of whether what is religiously appropriate is determined by what a divinity likes or by some other characteristic. The Meno, also a rather early dialogue, addresses the more general question ‘What is virtue?’ with the aim of establishing whether virtue is acquired by being taught or by some other means. The course will focus on some arguments offered in these two dialogues. It will be concerned with the introduction of the theory of forms in Plato’s early work and with different characterizations of virtue. There will also be a brief discussion of some texts of the Republic to show how some of the ethical themes of the earlier dialogues are addressed in the metaphysical setting of the theory of forms.