One day an acquaintance ran up to Socrates 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
the Test of Three. 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 not 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.
