Summary and Analysis of Platos Euthyphro

The Euthyphro is one of Platos most interesting and important early dialogues. Its focus is on the question: What is piety? Euthyphro, a priest of sorts, claims to know the answer, but Socrates shoots down each definition he proposes. After five failed attempts to define piety Euthyphro hurries off leaving the question unanswered. The Dramatic Context It is 399 BCE.  Socrates and Euthyphro meet by chance outside the court in Athens where Socrates is about to be tried on charges of corrupting the youth and for impiety (or more specifically, not believing in the citys gods and introducing false gods.) At his trial, as all of Platos readers would know,  Socrates was found guilty and condemned to death. This circumstance casts a shadow over the discussion.  For as Socrates says, the  question hes asking on this occasion is  hardly  a  trivial, abstract issue that doesnt concern him.  As it will turn out, his life is on the line. Euthyphro is there  because he is prosecuting his father for murder. One of  their servants had killed a slave, and Euthyphros father had tied the servant  up and left him in a ditch while he sought advice about what to do.  When he returned, the servant had died. Most people would consider it impious for a son to bring charges against his father, but Euthyphro claims to know better.  He was probably a kind of priest in a somewhat unorthodox religious sect.  His purpose in prosecuting his father is not to get him punished but to cleanse the household of bloodguilt.  This is the kind of thing he understands, and the ordinary Athenian does not. The Concept of Piety The English term piety or the pious is translated from the Greek word hosion.  This word might also be translated as holiness or religious correctness.  Piety has two senses: A narrow sense: knowing and doing what is correct in religious rituals. For example, knowing what prayers should be said on any specific occasion, or knowing how to perform a sacrifice.A broad sense: righteousness; being a good person. Euthyphro begins with the first, narrower sense of piety in mind.  But Socrates, true to his general outlook, tends to stress the broader sense.  He  is less interested in correct ritual than in living morally. (Jesus attitude toward Judaism is rather similar.)   Euthyphros 5 Definitions Socrates says, tongue in cheek, as usual, that hes delighted to find someone whos an expert on piety.  Just what he needs in his present situation. So he asks Euthyphro to explain to him what piety is.  Euthyphro tries to do this five times, and each time Socrates argues that the definition is inadequate. 1st Definition: Piety is what is Euthyphro is doing now, namely prosecuting wrongdoers. Impiety is failing to do this. Socrates Objection:  Thats just an example of piety, not a general definition of the concept. 2nd Definition:  Piety is what is loved by the gods (dear to the gods in some translations). Impiety is what is hated by the gods. Socrates Objection:  According to Euthyphro, the gods sometimes disagree among themselves about questions of justice.  So some things are loved by some gods and hated by others.  On this definition, these things will be both pious and impious, which makes no sense. 3rd Definition: Piety is what is loved by all the gods. Impiety is what all the gods hate. Socrates Objection:  The argument Socrates uses to criticize this definition is the heart of the dialogue. His criticism is subtle but powerful.  He poses this question: Do the gods love piety because it is pious, or is it pious because the gods love it? To grasp the point of the question, consider this analogous question:  Is  a film funny because people laugh at it, do people laugh at it because its funny?  If we say its funny because people laugh at it, were saying something rather strange. Were saying that the film only has the property of being funny because certain people have a certain attitude towards it. But Socrates argues that this gets things the wrong way round.  People laugh at a film because it has a certain intrinsic property, the  property of being funny.  This is what makes them laugh. Similarly, things arent pious because the gods view them in a certain way.  Rather, the gods love pious actions such as helping a stranger in need, because such actions have a certain intrinsic property, the property of being pious. 4th definition: Piety is that part of justice concerned with caring for the gods. Socrates Objection: The notion of care involved here is unclear. It cant be the sort of care a dog owner gives to its dog since that aims at improving the dog. But we cant improve the gods. If its like the care a slave gives his master, it must aim at some definite shared goal.  But Euthyphro cant say what that goal is. 5th Definition: Piety is saying and doing what is pleasing to the gods at prayer and sacrifice.   Socrates Objection: When pressed, this definition turns out to be just the third definition in disguise. After Socrates shows how this is so, Euthyphro says in effect, Oh dear, is that the time?  Sorry, Socrates, I have to go. General Points About the Dialogue The Euthyphro  is typical of Platos early dialogues: short; concerned with defining an ethical concept; ending without a definition being agreed upon. The question: Do the gods love piety because it is pious, or is it pious because the gods love it? is one of the great questions posed in the history of philosophy.  It suggests a distinction between an essentialist perspective and a conventionalist  perspective. Essentialists apply labels to things because they possess certain essential qualities that make them what they are.  The conventionalist view is that how we regard things determines what they are. Consider this question, for instance: Are works of art in museums because they are works of art, or  do we call them works of art because they are in museums?   Essentialists assert the first position, conventionalists the second. Although Socrates generally gets the better of Euthyphro, some of what Euthyphro says makes a certain amount of sense.  For instance, when asked what human beings  can give  the gods, he replies that we give them honor, reverence, and gratitude.  The British philosopher Peter Geach has argued that this is a pretty good answer.

Alcohol Abuse And Alcohol Use Disorder Essay - 1665 Words

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According to the DMS-5, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders issued by the American Psychiatric Association, the Alcohol Use Disorder is defined as â€Å"a problematic pattern of alcohol use leading to clinically significant impairment of distress, as manifested by at least two symptoms of the eleven in their diagnostic criteria occurring within a 12-month period. These symptoms demonstrates activities such as, alcohol being often taken in larger amounts over a long period of time, a persistent desire to cut down or control alcohol use, cravings to use alcohol, a great deal of time spent in activities necessary to obtain alcohol, use alcohol or recover from its effect, recurrent alcohol use in situations in which it is physicallyShow MoreRelatedAlcohol Abuse And Alcohol Use Disorder1271 Words   |  6 PagesA brief history of alcohol and its use, alcohol has been around since the birth of man. Alcohol has been used for medical reasons, as well as recreational use. 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Accounting Theory Implication of IFRS

Question: Discuss about theAccounting Theoryfor Implication of IFRS. Answer: Implication of IFRS for Local Authorities Richard Murphy in his article has raised the concern on the adoption of IFRS on local authorities. The concern is regarding whether the implementation of IFRS on local authorities is right or is creating a potential weakness. The statement written by Murphy is completely right as professionals in the field of accounting believe that implication of IFRS on local authorities is not justified. As per Murphy, international accounting financial standard is applicable for all transactions that takes place at local authorities but does not take into account some prominent items such as public funds entrusted and supply of services. As per the IFRS standards, public funds entrusted and supply of services are not required to be recorded in the financial reports prepared by the companies (Moore Stephens IFRS, 2009). However, these both items are categorised as most important management activities of local authorities. Thus, the statement given by Murphy is completely right in the sense that lo cal authorities are small business entities that does not have high amount of public engagements. Therefore, it is not required to impose IFRS implications on local authorities. IFRS standards apply to the entities in the preparation of financial statements for facilitating investors to take decisions regarding the purchasing or selling of shares. As such, the local authorities are not traded on stock exchange and therefore they are not required to prepare their financial statements as per the standards of IFRS (Deloitte, 2013). The investors are not interested in purchasing the shares of local authorities and thus the application of IFRS on local authorities does not make any sense. It is very difficult for local authorities to develop their financial reports as per the international standards of IFRS. Therefore, the restrictions of IFRS on local authorities should be removed completely so that local entities can develop their financial reports easily. The decisions of IASB to impose IFRS on local authorities should involve implementing proper changes in IFRS standards so that it becomes applicable to local entities easily. The applications of IFRS on local authorities without implementing any change would violate the core management activities as IFRS does not have standards to measure items such as public funds stewardship and supply of services. Stewardship in financial statements indicates the value for money over a period of time while IFRS standards are used for indicting the value of money at an inst ant point of time (World GAAP Info, 2008). As such, there is no benefit realised on imposing IFRS on local authorities as it does not measures the transactions that occurred over a period of time. The core management activities of local authorities include public funds stewardship and supply of services that are not measured through IFRS standards. Therefore, the statement given by Mr. Murphy is completely right that there is no need for imposing IFRS restrictions on local authorities. However, if IASB need to impose IFRS on local authorities then it should make some changes on IFRS standards so that local authorities can easily develop financial statements as per the IFRS standards (Deloitte, 2013). IASB and Big 4 Relationship Internal Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has developed IFRS standards for the business firms that guide them in preparing financial reports. These mandatory standards imposed by IASB have put burden on the business entities for complying with all the requirements of financial reporting under the new IFRS guidelines. Business firms are facing increasingly difficulty in maintaining their accounts in accordance with the new financial reporting standards. Thus, multinational corporations are often seeking help from the Big 4 accounting firms for maintaining their financial reports as per the IFRS standards (KPMG, 2003). Big 4 accounting firms provides help to the business corporations in handling all the requirements of recording the financial transactions as per the new financial reporting standards. However, there is increased concern that IASB is working only in the favour of Big 4 accounting firms and is not helping the business entities who are facing increasing problem in develop ing their financial reports as per the IFRS requirements. There is on-going debate that IASB is not working in the interest of public and is providing advantages to Big 4 accounting firms. There are several reports in the context of IASB providing favour to the Big 4 accounting firms through implementing several complications in the financial reporting (Ernst Young, 2012). These complications are not necessary for the investors in order to analyse the financial information of the business organisations. As such, the multinational business corporations are offering large amount to the big 4 accounting firms for completing their procedure of financial reporting. Thus as such, IASB is believed to work in favour of Big 4 accounting firms through introducing complications in the conceptual framework that is to be followed by all the business entities globally for preparing their financial reports. The IASB after the occurrence of financial crisis in the year 2008 and 2009 has also imposed restrictions on local authorities to comply with the IFRS standards (Ernst Young, 2012). IASB, in the year 2010, has made it mandatory for the local authorities to comply with IFRS standards although there is no requirements on these small entities to prepare their financial reports as per the IFRS standards, Local authorities does not have any public involvement and are also not traded on stock exchange and thus there is no requirements for these entities to comply with IFRS standards. The main objective behind the introduction of these requirements on local authorities was only to increase their complexity of business operations. The BIG 4 accounting firms are acting unethically as they are providing help to the business entities only for the sake of money. IASB role is being questioned on the entire context as it is helping Big 4 accounting firms to make money through enhancing the complications in the IFRS standards (KPMG, 2003). Implementation of IFRS in Local Authorities of Australia The implementation of IFRS on local authorities in Australia has both advantages and drawback associated with it. The major advantage of implementing IFRS on local authorities is obtaining timely and proper financial statements that are relatively easy for understanding and analysing. The stakeholders of local authorities can easily access the information regarding the performance of these entities and thus it will promote accuracy and transparency in local authorities operational activities of Australia. However, the major objective of implementing IFRS standards on developing financial reports is to provide timely and accurate information to the investors for supporting their decisions regarding investing in the business firms (IFRS, 2013). The local authorities in Australia are not involved with public and investors do not basically invest in local entities. Therefore, the point of debate is that it is necessary to implement IFRS standards on local authorities for making their fin ancial reporting more understandable. IFRS standards are mainly required to be adopted by the business firms to make their financial reports more understandable for the investors. However, with no interest of investors in investing in local authorities there is increasing concern that IFRS restrictions should not be imposed on the local authorities in Australia. Some people argue that IFRS standards application for local authorities is highly required for standardisation of accounting procedures (Leonard, 2010). The IFRS standards are required to be adopted by the local authorities also so that their financial reports are prepared as per the common conceptual framework adopted by IASB. It will make their financial reports easy to be understood and accepted at international level and this is proving to be the main reason behind IASB imposing IFRS standards on local authorities also. However, IASB, in this context need to understand the fact that IFRS standards are mainly advantageous to be implemented only in the business firm that are traded on stock exchange and interact with public. The major disadvantage of IFRS standards on implementing in local authorities is that that the standards does not measure and report the core management activities of local authorities, that are, public funds stewardship nod supply of services (Ernst Young, 2012). Thus, it does not provide any benefit to the local authorities on complying with IFRS standards. In addition to this, compliance of local authoritie s with IFRS standards increases operational cost for these entities. The business entities developing financial reports as per the IFRS standards have to incur the cost of deposing the financial reports with government bodies. As such, the local authorities often find it highly difficult for bearing all the cost associated with accounting firms for performing the operations as per the IFRS standards. The local authorities does not have high profit margin and therefore they have to face large difficulty in incurring the cost that is to be paid to the accounting firms for complying with IFRS standards. Thus, in the context of all these discussion it can be stated that imposing IFRS standards on the local authorities is not necessary and provides only limited advantages (Epstein et al., 2009). References Deloitte. 2013. IFRS 1 First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. [Online]. Available at: https://www.iasplus.com/en/standards/ifrs1 [Accessed on: 20 October 2016]. Epstein, B.J. et al. 2009. Wiley GAAP 2010: Interpretation and Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. John Wiley Sons. Ernst Young. 2011. UK GAAP vs. IFRS. [Online]. Available at: https://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/UK_GAAP_v_IFRS_-_The_basics_-_Spring_2011/$FILE/EY_UK_GAAP_vs_IFRS_-_The%20basics_-_Spring_2011%20.pdf [Accessed on: 20 October 2016]. Ernst Young. 2012. International GAAP 2012 - Generally Accepted Accounting Practice Under International Financial Reporting Standards. John Wiley Sons Leonard, B. 2010. Report and Recommendations Pursuant to Section 133 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act Of 2008: Study on Mark-to-Market Accounting. DIANE Publishing. Moore Stephens. IFRS. 2009. [Online]. Available at: https://www.moorestephens.co.uk/IFRS.aspx [Accessed on: 20 October 2016]. World GAAP Info. 2008. UK FRS. [Online]. Available at: https://worldgaapinfo.com/uk.php [Accessed on: 20 October 2016].

Why We Do What We Do When We Do What We Do an Example of the Topic Psychology Essays by

Why We Do What We Do When We Do What We Do We do the things we do because we perceive that it is to our benefit to do these things, and, as in Deci and Flastes (1996) further assertion, the perception of intrinsic motivation and autonomy plays a key role in fostering individual well-being. Although there are claims to self-sacrificing actions, it is my belief that all behavior is self-centered behavior, and that each of us acts with our individual self-interests uppermost in our minds. Need essay sample on "Why We Do What We Do When We Do What We Do" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Whether we respond to a particular stimulus or not depends on how we interpret the self-interest value of responding. If action is perceived as likely to produce a benefit to self, we act; if action is perceived as unlikely to result in a benefit to self, we do not act. But the question of why we do what we do when we do not only boils down to self-motivation, external circumstances play their part as well, as the following story will typify. There were several young boys who enjoyed throwing rocks at the house of a man who lived on the outskirts of town. The old man tried many methods of stopping the boys from throwing rocks at his house. He tried yelling at them. He tried reasoning with them. He even threatened to call the police. Nothing seem to work. Finally, in desperation, the man came up with a bold plan. He started paying the boys a dollar each to throw rocks at his house. Then he reduced the payment to twenty-five cents. Although the boys complained, they continued to throw rocks, but with less enthusiasm. Finally, he reduced the payment to a penny each. Amazingly, the boys stopped entirely, telling the old man that it was no longer worth it to throw rocks at his house! And they never returned. The explanation for this occurrence is that the formerly self-motivated (albeit negative) behavior became externally controlled. First, the rock throwing lost its intrinsic pleasure. Second, the reduced external reward was insufficient to maintain it. This implies that ultimately, when behavior becomes too closely linked with external forces, self-motivation is lost. By the time we reach adulthood, most of us have been thoroughly socialized to external control through the promise of rewards and the threat of punishment. At this point, self-motivation has become subordinated to potent external forces. WORK CITED Deci, L. & Flaste, R. (1996). Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation. Penguin Books.