CIE100: Common Intellectual Experience - Euthyphro Writing Prompt (10 Points)

Assignment Goals

The goals of this assignment are:
  1. To reflect upon the course texts in preparation for thoughtful discussion
  2. To organize thoughts into a concise and cohesive response to a targeted question
  3. To consider multiple viewpoints about ideas

The Assignment

Please read the questions below and answer them in a short dialogue between yourself and a figure from, or behind, the text. Aim for about as much substance as a 1-2 paragraph response, and do not worry if the script formatting makes it run a little long on the page. Quote the text at least once inside the exchange, and give the other voice a real counterargument with a quote of its own, and not an easy target you can knock over. Submit your dialogue through Canvas before the start of class.

Plato wrote a dialogue, so I’m asking you for one. If another form serves your thinking better, you may use any of the other four genres (analytic, letter, dialogue, marginalia+aphorism, or the Four A’s), as long as your response still carries a quote and a counterargument.

For help with the reading itself, see How to Read Hard Texts in CIE.

Writing Prompt

  1. Socrates asks Euthyphro whether the pious is loved by the gods because it is pious, or whether it is pious because it is loved by the gods. Restate this dilemma in your own words, and explain why each horn of it troubles Euthyphro’s confidence. Why does the dialogue end without an answer, and what do you think Plato wants us to take from that?

  2. Apply the dilemma to a modern authority whose judgments you generally trust: the law, a platform’s community guidelines, a religious tradition, your parents, or even an AI assistant. Is an action right because the authority approves of it, or does the authority approve of it because it is right? Give a concrete example where the two come apart, and discuss what that gap demands of you.

Submission

Please submit a word processed or PDF document.

Please refer to the Style Guide for code quality examples and guidelines.