The TRIPLE Filter Test

One day an acquaintance met Socrates and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”
“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything 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 friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you`re going to say.
That`s why I call it the triple filter test."

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 friend something good?”
“No, on the contrary…”
“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you`re not certain
it`s true. You may still pass the test though, because there`s one fi lter left:

The filter of USEFULNESS
"Is what you want to tell me about my friend 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 triple filter test refers to an anecdote attributed to the great Greek philosopher, Socrates (469 – 399 BC) ... Socrates asked the man to calm down. After thinking for a moment, he asked him to wait a minute. Before listening to what he had to say, the message had to go through a triple filter test.