Opinions Reviszed

Are you entitled to your opinion? Most people say of course, but is that entirely true? There are instances where both cases are true. Everyone is entitled to their opinion to some extent. If your opinion is on something that is debatable like, "Chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla ice cream," then you have every right to that opinion. But if you use the excuse of "I'm entitled to my opinion" to argue over something that is completely wrong, then that is not the case. If your opinion is 2+2 =5, then you are not entitled to that. If you are arguing over your opinion that is completely wrong, then you are missing that point of your opinion. You have an opinion so that you can argue and back up your beliefs, not to just have an excuse to debate with someone

Patrick Stokes, lecturer in Philosophy at Deakin University. In his essay, "No your not entitled to your opinion," he claims that everyone is in entitled to their opinion, only if their opinion is arguable. If someone has an opinion that is completely false just so they can argue, then they are not entitled to that opinion.  Sometimes people use their opinion in order to say whatever they want, Stokes is against this for that reason. Although I disagree with much that Stokes says, I fully endorse his final conclusion that people should only have opinions if they are arguable. People should have opinions to state their beliefs, not to just be able to say what they want to.