... Euthyphro offers Socrates with two possible origins for the origin of morality. These origins both have their own unique weakness and leave Euthyphro doubting both theories equally. The first possible theory is that God (or Gods) decides morality out of nothing (ex nihlo). If this is the case however then morality is purely arbitrary and based upon chance; what we perceive to be moral had an equal chance in another time of being immoral. For example, rape being seen as a pious and moral whilst charity and selflessness being seen as immoral and evil. In this sense, any deity could not be good as deities are simply good by their own definition. An argument against this view however, is that if morality were reversed we would have no concept of it ever being any other way. The second of the possible theories is that morality is an independent standard by ...

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