SOCRATES TRIPLE FILTER TEST In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, Socrates, do you know what I just heard about your friend? Hold on a minute, Socrates replied. Before telling me anything Id like you to pass a little test. Its called the Triple Filter Test. Triple filter? Thats right, Socrates continued. Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what youre 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 dont really know if its true or not. Now lets try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good? No, on the contrary... So, Socrates continued, you want to tell me something bad about him, but youre not certain its true. You may still pass the test though, because theres one filter left: the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend 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? This is why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem. It also explains why he never found out his best friend was sleeping with his wife.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Sep 2014 07:54:45 +0000
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