Euthyphro 9d-11b: Analysis and Definition in Plato and Others

Abstract

Piety = god-lovedness, then if a thing is loved by the gods because it is pious, then it is loved by the gods because it is god-loved, and if a thing is god-loved because it is loved by the gods, then it is pious because it is loved by the god' (10e9-11a3), to be based on some principle of substitutivity of identity or of definitional equivalents. I show that this is inadequate and mistaken, and that this premise (and the whole argument) should be viewed as based on a nascent theory of analysis and formal causation. I also show that socrates' argument if vitally different from and also much better than some superficially similar arguments in moore and hare about the definability of evaluative terms.