Socrates and the three sieves
Is it true? Is it good? Is it necessary?
Transcript
Guy: “Socrates, Socrates! Did you hear about your friend?”
Socrates: “Wait! Before you continue: did you sift your story through the Three Sieves?”
Guy: “Huh? The three what?”
Socrates: “The first sieve is the sieve of Truth! Did you verify the truthfulness of what you want to tell me?”
Guy: “No, should I have…?”
Socrates: “The second sieve is the sieve of Good! Is it something good you’ll say about my friend?”
Guy: “No, but it’s funny!”
Socrates: “The third is the sieve of Necessity! Is it really necessary you should tell me this?”
Guy: “Hm, strictly speaking NO, I guess…”
Socrates: “Well, then I don’t need to hear it! Saves us all a lot of time, doesn’t it?”
Questions for further discussion
Did you say or hear something today that would not have passed these three criteria? What was it? How did you feel about saying/hearing it? How do you feel about it now?
Do you think information should really pass through ALL the sieves? What if something is True and Necessary, but not Good? Would you want to hear it or pass it on?
Everyone likes to gossip now and then. How would Socrates feel about this? Do you think gossip is bad, or a useful social mechanism?
Original page
Wow, it turns out I like philosophy a lot more than I thought I did based on how poorly I grasped it in college. Thank you!
The world would be a better place if we all used the three sieves, but newspapers might go out of business...