I Couldn’t Agree More
The conclusion of this story is very insightful.
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 Three Filters Test.”
“Three Filters?”
“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 Three Filters 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?”
This is why Socrates was a great philosopher & held in such high esteem.
December 15th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
You know what would really be a piece of USEFUL information? What on earth are you doing on a website devoted to the breeding of exotic and Persian cats? Not that you’re having sex with trees, but devotedness to cats is also highly suspicious. Are those the kind of sources you rely on for your opinion-formation??
December 15th, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Wow, i’m going to copy and paste that after EVERY post you make from now on
December 15th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Well, I kind of wanted to know what you were doing on a website that sells treesex shirts, Bettina, but perhaps some questions are best not asked.
December 16th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
1.) Does Steve know anything about Muslim culture that he didn’t learn from living in the West? Can that be considered knowing truth?
2,) Is what Steve says about Muslim culture going to be bad?
3.) Is Steve’s hate of Muslim culture useful?
Guess Steve should continue to read Socrates.
December 16th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Lolcarsam. New word. It means to laugh at someone that missed someone else sarcasm.
Seriously I was mocking the jejune moral to this story. Its just silly.
December 17th, 2007 at 12:45 am
ja ja, you say that now, cause you just want to admit that you have a thing for Persian cats….
December 17th, 2007 at 12:47 am
just don’t want to
December 17th, 2007 at 10:17 am
It actually disappoints me a little that people who know me were unable to realize i was mocking such a painful attempt at using philosopher to moralize. Just about any attempt to moralize will bring about mockery and derision from me.
December 17th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
It’s because we all roll our eyes at your uber-mensch stuff without trying to understand it, so who knows what philosophy you really believe.
December 17th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Yes, Steve never moralizes.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:28 am
Dan you shouldn’t contradict people, it makes them less likely to want to be your friend. Socrates understood this and it’s why was such a great philosopher and held in high esteem and was loved by children and candy bars all over the world.