No, You’re Not Entitled to Your Own Opinion - Article Summary

David Wais

Dr. Michael Nafi

Summary

World views in fiction sect. 80

Sept 25th 2017

Article Summary

Source:  P. Stokes (2012, Oct 4th). “No, you’re not entitled to your own opinion” https://theconversation.com/no-youre-not-entitled-to-your-opinion-9978

Keywords: Opinion, Students, Argument, Philosophy, and Entitlement

• The text addresses the expression “everyone is entitled to their own opinion” and discusses how that expression may not entirely be correct depending on the context it’s used in.
• The author, Patrick Stokes, claims that “You are not entitled to your own opinion, you are only entitled to what you can argue for.”
• Patrick uses the Meryl Dorey incident to argue as to why you aren’t entitled to your own opinion.
• Ms. Dorey is the leader of the Australian Vaccination network, which is an organization devoted to stopping the use of vaccines on children.
•  Ms. Dorey has no medical qualifications, but argues that if Bob Brown is allowed to comment on nuclear power despite not being a scientist, she should be allowed to comment on vaccines despite having no medical qualifications.
•   Patrick claims that there are two senses of “entitlement” one being “no-one has the right to stop people from thinking and saying whatever they want”.
• The other being “entitled to have your views treated as serious candidates for the truth”.  

Personal comments: Personally, I agree with Patrick’s views on entitlement. I believe that if you cannot back up your argument with cold hard facts then it is considered your own opinion and cannot be used in a debate.