In ancient Greece (469 – 399 BC),
Socrates was widely lauded for his
wisdom.
One day the great philosopher came
upon an acquaintance, who 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 Test of Three.”
“Test of Three?”
“That’s correct,” Socrates continued.
“Before you talk to me about my
student let’s take a moment to test
what you’re going to say. The first
test is Truth. Have you made
absolutely sure that what you are
about to tell me is true?”
“No,” the man replied, “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 test, the test
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 though because
there is a third test – 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
and said no more.
This is the reason Socrates was a
great philosopher and held in such
high esteem. …read more