This can certainly be a beneficial practice, and need not necessarily be carried out with anonymity. One of the greatest thinkers of the Medieval period, Thoma

This can certainly be a beneficial practice, and need not necessarily be carried out with anonymity. One of the greatest thinkers of the Medieval period, Thomas Aquinas[1], honed this skill to a very fine point, and even in his own day was regarded as being able to articulate views which contradicted his own better than those who argued the opposing views in the first place. His best-known work, wherein you can see this skill at work, is his Summa Theologica[2]. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas [2] http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1.htm http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1.htm [&] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Theologica http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa_Theologica