Socrates

[Guest guest]

In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high

esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and

said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"

 

"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything

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

friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what

you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple filter test.

 

The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what

you are about to tell me is true?" (Sathyam?)

 

"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 friend something good?"

(Priyam?)

 

"No, on the contrary..."

 

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about

him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass the test

though, because there's one filter left: the filter of usefulness.

Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to

me?" (Hitham?)

 

"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?"