In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC) Socrates
was widely 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 in neither True nor Good nor even Useful,
why tell it to me at all?"
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