In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was widely known and lauded for
his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who
ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard
about one of your students?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to
pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my
student, let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first
filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to
tell me is true?"
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and "...
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not.
Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are
about to tell me about my student something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him,
even though you're not certain it's true?"
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued.
"You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter - the
filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going
to be useful to me?"
"No, not really..."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True
nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"
Deferring to the awesome wisdom of the sage, the man, defeated and shamed,
said nothing and walked away quietly.
This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high
esteem. It also explains why he never found out that Plato was banging his
wife.
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Topic: Socrates (Read 840 times)