virus: Socrates' Triple Filter

From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Thu Jul 10 2003 - 17:58:58 MDT

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    In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in the highest
    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 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. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you
    are about to tell me is absolutely true? "No," the man said, "I actually
    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?" 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 banging his
    wife.

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