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Socrates is asking Euthyphro whether: (a) the gods love something because it is good, or (b) whether the object is good [[Divine command theory|because the gods love it]].
Socrates is asking Euthyphro whether: (a) the gods love something because it is good, or (b) whether the object is good [[Divine command theory|because the gods love it]].
If we take (a) to be true, then the gods are unnecessary, because the object would be good regardless of their existence.
If we take (a) to be true, then the gods are unnecessary, because the object would be good regardless of their existence.
If we take (b) to be true, then we have two problems: that of continuity and that of arbitrariness. The problem of continuity arises when the gods change their minds and then declare a new moral law that is substantially different from, or perhaps even the opposite of, the previous moral law. An exaggerated example would be if murder or genocide were declared holy and just or even obligatory. The problem of arbitrariness states that the gods just selected some random things, and then declared them holy for no real moral reason (as morality wouldn't exist until they did); this obviously raises the question about whether the random things they selected to be holy were really the best things for humanity.
If we take (b) to be true, then we have two problems: that of continuity and that of arbitrariness. The problem of continuity arises when the gods change their minds and then declare a new moral law that is substantially different from, or perhaps even the opposite of, the previous moral law. An exaggerated example would be if murder or genocide were declared holy and just or even obligatory. The problem of arbitrariness states that the gods just selected some random things and then declared them holy for no real moral reason (as morality wouldn't exist until they did); this obviously raises the question about whether the random things they selected to be holy were really the best things for humanity.
==External links==
==External links==