>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 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 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?"

>

>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 screwing his

>wife.

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