Socrates’s Triple Filter

Portrait of Socrates. Marble, Roman artwork (1st century), perhaps a copy of a lost bronze statue made by Lysippos. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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 Triple Filter Test..”

“Triple filter?” replied the acquaintance!

“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my student let’s take a moment to 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 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 the test though, because there is a third filter – 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?”

First Published on Funny Emails: Nov 10, 2006 @ 16:26

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You should have gone ahead and put it on your album, mate. I would have gladly paid the fine for you.

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Ah! The Irish.

The women are sitting next to each other at a bar. One looks at the other and says,”I can’t help but think from listening to you that you’re from Ireland ..”

The other woman responds proudly, ‘Yes, I sure am!’

The first one says, ‘So am I! And where about in Ireland are ya from?”

The other woman answers, ‘I’m from St. John’s.’

The first one responds, ‘So, am I!! And what street did you live on?’

The other woman says, ‘A lovely little area it was in the west end. I lived on Warbury Street in the old central part of town.’ The first one says, ‘Faith and it’s a small world! So did I! So did I! And what school did ya go to?’

The other woman answers, ‘Well now, I went to Holy Heart of Mary, of course.’

The first one gets really excited and says, ‘And so did I! Tell me, what year did you graduate?’

The other woman answers, ‘Well, now, let’s see. I graduated in 1964.’

The first woman exclaims, ‘The Good Lord must be smiling down upon us! I can hardly believe our good luck at winding up in the same pub tonight. Can you believe it, I graduated from Holy Heart of Mary in 1964 me self.”

About this time, Michael walks into the bar, sits down and orders a beer.. Brian, the bartender, walks over to Michael, shaking his head and mutters, ‘It’s going to be a long night tonight.’ Michael asks, ‘ Why do you say that, Brian?’

Brian answers, ‘The Murphy twins are drunk again.’

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Anything worth taking seriously is worth making fun of.

And I, with my scholarly talent with letters, shall join you and record your grand adventures and noble deeds for posterity!

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Lasith Malinga