In ancient Greece (469 – 399 BC), Socrates was
widely lauded for his wisdom. One day an acquaintance 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?” asked the acquaintance. “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.” “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 is neither True nor Good nor even Useful
, why tell it to me at all? “The man was defeated and
ashamed. 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 shagging his wife
