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DameDarkness -> Repeating Rumors (1/25/2006 8:50:52 PM)
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Repeating Rumors
Keep this in mind the next time you either hear or are
about to repeat a rumor! In ancient Greece (469 - 399 BC), Socrates was well known for his wisdom.
One day the great philosopher came upon
an acquaintance who said excitedly,
"Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your
students?" Wait a moment," 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 student, it might be a good idea to take a moment and 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, 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 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?"
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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