In Plato's five dialogues, specifically in the Euthyphro and the Apology, Plato uses characters to outline the general definition of philosophy and its practice. In the Euthyphro, Socrates exemplifies how difficult the practice of philosophy can be to even obtain a definition. To do this, a series of questions and connection paths between possible answers are needed. However, Socrates believes that the main purpose of the practice is to get people, like Euthyphro, to recognize their own places of ignorance. Although Socrates was sometimes ineffective, it is important to engage in such practice to move closer to an understanding or realize the lack thereof. In the Apology we can hear Socrates' explanation of his ways and what he believes to be the true purpose of philosophy. All of this flies in the face of his commitment to human wisdom, the key that most people don't have in their lives. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay For Socrates, Euthyphro's decision to incriminate his father was peculiar and so he finds it fascinating to separate the reasoning for his choice. In their conversation the distinction between general and special moral duties seems to be the strong reason why Euthyphro can ignore that the person he is accusing is his father and instead pursue what he believes to be justice. General moral duties are duties one has towards everyone at all times and places, while special moral duties are those one has towards a particular person or group in particular circumstances. For Euthyphro, he neglects special moral duties and focuses on general moral duties according to his father's case. In the text he states: “It is ridiculous, Socrates, that you think it makes a difference whether the victim is a stranger or a relative. We only need to look at whether the murderer acted rightly or not” (4c). Here Plato uses these concepts in the Euthyphro to point out that from case to case people will relate to special or general moral duties. This decision highlights the difficulty of truly knowing which is the right path, the most just or rather the most pious action. Socrates then investigates Euthyphro's conception of piety because Euthyphro must obviously feel compliant with being pious. However, while talking to Socrates, Plato shows through the text that Euthyphro does not have as clear an understanding of his definition as he thought he had. The ambiguity of pity shows that philosophical definitions are not about the word itself, but about the thing it is trying to describe. In order for the expression of the essence of x, in this case piety, to be satisfactorily defined, some conditions must exist. The essence expression will tell us the characteristic or set of characteristics that for one all x's have in common and two make the x's what they are, showing only what the x's have. Euthyphro's first definition of piety, that is, what he is doing right now, is unsuccessful because he only provides an example of piety, but does not explain what piety is. “Whether the culprit is your father or mother or anyone else; not to prosecute is wicked” (5e). Since Euthyphro is in the mindset of general moral duties, it follows that he believes his action of prosecuting his father is the right way to correct the injustice. However, Socrates tries to reveal to Euthyphro that without a form of piety it would be difficult to evaluate other actions as such, that knowledge agreed with man and, ultimately, with the gods would be necessary. Leading to Euthyphro's second definition, that which is pious is that which is loved or dear to the gods, also proves problematic because it leaves room forcontradictions in that, unless one knows what the gods love and hate, some cases could be both pious and impious. “They do not dispute that the wrongdoer should be punished, but they may disagree about who the wrongdoer is, what he did, and when” (8d). This type of dispute between men or gods is a problem and has negative consequences on both a practical and logical level. Practically within the court this would be bad because the Athenians don't want to do anything that isn't loved by the gods and it's logically bad because if pious and impious are destined to be opposites, or contrary, something shouldn't be able to be at the same time pious and pious. wicked at the same time. In an attempt to refine his answer, Euthyphro then comes to his third definition and says that the definition of piety is what all the gods love. This definition once again fails because it is not known how the "is" is intended to be interpreted. IS can be seen as a marker of identity or as a universal correlate of addiction. If this suggests identity, then the pity and love of all gods would be equal. With this definition anyone could say that their action is what is pious and therefore loved by all the gods, but there would be no way to prove what all the gods love versus what all the gods hate or disagree about . Socrates also points out that “if the pious were loved because he was pious, the beloved of God would also be loved because he was loved by God; and if the beloved god were loved by God because he is loved by the gods, then the pious would also be pious because he is loved by the gods” (11b). Here he is demonstrating that if God's piety and love are identical the definitions cannot hold because they suggest a dependence on each other. Piety would be a relative property, in the sense that it stands only in relation to what concerns the love of God. This gives light to the second interpretation since it stands for a universal correlation on dependence. It would be to say that if x exists, y exists, therefore if pity exists, the love of the gods also exists. However, this explains only one type of dependence and does not take into account others, such as the case of impiety and splitting. Euthyphro precedes by giving a fourth definition, but without completing he apologizes, running to court, leaving Socrates without an answer or any true clarity of pity. Socrates, however, was more engaged in the questioning than in the need for a direct answer and he too had his accusation to go where the one under judgment was. In the apology, Socrates stands before the court in his defense of why the rumors were spread. about him. For Socrates, philosophy, being what it does, is the never-ending struggle against blameworthy ignorance and the search for human wisdom. This notion of wisdom arose in his defense as most people do not understand his practice and in an attempt to explain his use of conversation, selecting answers and questions, he explains that the oracle at Delphi told him that he is the most wise of all men. At first Socrates did not believe this to be true and to verify what Delphi was telling him he sets out to talk to many different men in different fields such as politicians, poets and craftsmen. None of these men except the craftsmen showed true human wisdom, yet even the craftsmen had very little of it in one area. Socrates states, “As a result of my investigation, men of Athens, I acquired much unpopularity…many slander came from these people and a reputation for wisdom” (23b). In demonstrating that those who thought they were wise in reality are not, the reason why Socrates is not is the thing he likes most and his belief in this practice is its service to the gods, an uncommon job not recognized by others . Since it is a job that most do not have and does not bring income, Socrates.