Sock it to me
Mike O'Brien
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 Test of Three."
"Test of Three?"
"That's correct," Socrates continued.
"Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what
you're going to say. 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 nor
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.
It also explains why Socrates never found out that Plato was banging his
wife
--
Regards,
Mike O'Brien - from Brainerd
life is full of choices..choices have consequences
.
Jules
> It also explains why Socrates never found out that Plato was banging his
> wife
Ha!
Although you just gave no reason for most TV and newspapers to exist...
Mike O'Brien
"Jules" <jules.rich...@remove.this.gmail.com> wrote
> Ha!
I hear FOX is "fair and balanced" according to Scott...;>
Tony Calguire
news:hchul3$cbb$1...@news.eternal-september.org:
> It also explains why Socrates never found out that Plato was banging
> his wife
>
>
... and this is where the whole premise of the joke falls apart.