One day an acquaintance came to Socrates and said:
-I’ll now tell you something that I heard about one of your friends.
“Wait a minute,” replied Socrates. “Before you tell me anything, it must go through a triple filter.” Before you talk about my friend, you must filter what you are going to say. The first filter is true. Tell me, are you absolutely sure that this is true?
“No,” answered the acquaintance, “I heard about it myself from others.”
- So you're not sure it's true. Now the second filter is good. Is there anything good in what you are going to say about my friend?
- Vice versa. This is something very bad.
“So, you want to tell me something that may not be true, and even something bad.” The third filter is usefulness. Can I personally gain any benefit from what you say?
“In general, no,” answered the friend.
“Well, if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor useful, then why should I know it?”
So Socrates never found out that Xanthippe was cheating on him with his best friend.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru