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 ?”
” 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 ?” ” 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? “ ” 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 ?”
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