other common saying is that everyone has a right to his own
opinions. This is quite true, and it merely expresses the right of the
subject to use his own reason. But it is sometimes interpreted in a
different way. If a man holds a totally irrational opinion, and if
every weapon is beaten out of his hands, if he is driven from every
position he takes up--so that there is nothing left for him to do,
except to admit that he is wrong, such a man will sometimes take
refuge in the saying, that, after all, argue as you may, he has a
right to his own opinion. But we cannot allow the claim. No man has a
right to wrong opinions. There cannot be any right {125} in wrong
opinions. You have no right to an opinion unless it is founded upon
that which is universal in man, his reason. You cannot claim this
right on behalf of your subjective impressions, and irrational whims.
To do so is to make the mistake of the Sophists.

The tendencies of the more shallow type of modern rationalism exhibit
a similar Sophistical thought. It is pointed out that moral ideas vary
very much in different countries and ages, that in Japan, for example,
prostitution is condoned, and that in ancient Egypt incest was not
condemned. Now it is important to know these facts. They should serve
as a warning to us against dogmatic narrow-mindedness in moral
matters. But some people draw from these facts the conclusion that
there is no universally valid and objectively real moral law. The
conclusion does not follow from the premises, and the conclusion is
false. People's opinions differ, not only on moral questions, but upon
every subject under the sun. Because men, a few hundred years ago,
believed that the earth was flat, whereas now we believe it is round,
it does not follow that it has in reality no shape at all, that there
is no objective truth in the matter. And because men's opinions
differ, in different ages and countries, as to what the true moral law
is, it does not follow that there is no objective moral law.

We will take as our last example the current talk about the importance
of developing one's personality. A man, it is said, should "be
himself," and the expression of his own individuality must be his
leading idea. Now certainly it is good to be oneself in the sense that
it is hypocritical to pretend to be what one is not. Moreover, it is
no doubt true that each man has certain special {126} gifts, which he
ought to develop, so that all, in their di