Testing For Gossip

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