Abstract

‘Service to the gods’ is the Greek expression for ‘religion,’ and this chapter describes philosophers' accounts of this ‘service’, with special attention to Plato's Euthyphro. It is made up of two parts, ‘religious correctness’ and ‘proper respect’. This ‘service’ is analogous to that owed by children to parents in return for the good things the parents have provided. To perform this service is a matter of ‘sound thinking’ and makes the gods propitious and the humans dear to them. The rewards of this service to the gods include, among other things, health, wealth, success in agriculture, and safety in war.