Socrates

Category: Joke Board

Post 1 by TexasRed (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Tuesday, 31-May-2005 16:02:09

Keep this philosophy in mind the next time you either hear or are about to
repeat a rumour.

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?"

"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?"

The man was defeated and ashamed.

This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high
esteem.

It also explains why he never found out that Plato was shagging his wife.

Post 2 by Grace (I've now got the ggold prolific poster award! wahoo! well done to me!) on Tuesday, 31-May-2005 18:23:53

For a moment I was wondering why this was Posted in the Joke section as I had heard this before somewhere else and thot it more so inspiritational... well, I thot I had... until.... I read the last line. That line wasn't in the writing I heard previous. Now I understand why in the joke section...

Post 3 by Susanne (move over school!) on Tuesday, 31-May-2005 19:32:16

Ahaha, except that Socrates' wife could probably have been Plato's mother, if not grandmother :-). Pretty funny, though, especially since Socrates was a nasty little bugger.

Post 4 by Ukulele<3 (Try me... You know you want to.) on Tuesday, 31-May-2005 19:37:39

hahaha cute!!! I liked it!!
*sexy*

Post 5 by Resonant (Find me alive.) on Wednesday, 01-Jun-2005 4:24:12

Oh he was! Or at least argumentative to a fault. I also don't think he'd have been all that concerned about his wife's fidelity, since he generally despised her. I'm sure Plato could've done better though.

Post 6 by kgs4674forever (Zone BBS is my Life) on Wednesday, 01-Jun-2005 21:59:25

Lol, lol, good one. I never thought of it that way.