“I’m sure you’ve heard the expression ‘everyone is entitled to their opinion.’ Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself, maybe to head off an argument or bring one

“I’m sure you’ve heard the expression ‘everyone is entitled to their opinion.’ Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself, maybe to head off an argument or bring one to a close. Well, as soon as you walk into this room, it’s no longer true. You are not entitled to your opinion. You are only entitled to what you can argue for.” -- Patrick Stokes Methinks Stokes has valid point, shame his position isn't the norm these days. My background isn't philosophy, rather it's engineering; nevertheless many years ago I studied philosophy and it's one of the best things I've done. Whilst it's far from being a universal panacea, philosophy helped me to develop a more balanced and nuanced worldview on many a subject. It's enabled me to argue logically and to detect BS and sweeping statements made without supporting evidence a mile off; and in argument to know the difference between 'subject' and 'predicate'! Moreover, I'm often skeptical of my own ideas—especially so if I've not bothered to argue my case through. I was enthralled when I first read Book I of Plato's Republic—'Of Wealth, Justice, Moderation, and Their Opposites'—I recall being amazed that a book so old could contain such cleaver and sophisticated arguments. In this remarkable work Plato explains the meaning of 'justice' by using formal argument which inevitably leads the reader to one logical conclusion. This brilliant argument takes the form of a dialogue between the sophist Thrasymachus and philosopher Socrates and begins with Thrasymachus holding a worldview that 'justice is everyman for himself', and—step after logical step—it ends with Socrates having completely demolished this view and offering up a much better one. This is wonderful stuff, and it's little wonder that it's endured for nearly two and half millennia. Technological and political changes over the last 30 or 40 years have meant that nowadays almost everyone has gained a voice irrespective of their expertise or experience—it's Warhol's '15 minutes of fame' effect. However, unfortunately these days this gain has been at the expense of formal argument much of which has been lost from the public discourse. Even worse, the precious little logical argument that actually remains is now lost in a background noisy dissonance and cacophony.