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Benjamin Franklin Should Imitate Jesus And Socrates

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Benjamin Franklin was the embodiment of the American dream. In the book, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin recounts the trials and tribulations of his life. Benjamin’s stated intention of the autobiography was to teach his son about his life, but others believe that Benjamin wrote the book to teach the world to be a great as he was. Benjamin discussions on vanity and morality are truly the crème de la crème of his work. Even as the ideal American, Benjamin was far from perfect.
Benjamin Franklin was vain. He wrote an autobiography in hopes of teaching the world how they can be better individuals. Franklin believed that vanity is such a great quality that it would be odd to not thank God for it. The quote “ I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that are within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man …show more content…

In his virtue of humility, Franklin states one should “ Imitate Jesus and Socrates”. Jesus and Socrates are two very prominent figures in today’s world. Jesus represents Christian virtues and practices and Socrates represents classical thought and virtues, but both of these Franklin himself considered extreme. Franklin tells people to live like Jesus and Socrates as a way of telling them to find middle ground between both. Jesus, a child of God dying for the sins of man to restore man, is the very symbol of humility. While Socrates, one of the most prideful philosophers in history, is the very symbol of vanity. Franklin uses his 13th virtue to encourage people to appear humble externally, but remain prideful internally. The appearance of humbleness allows people to receive the need help of others while maintaining their pride. The virtue allowed Franklin to achieve many of the goals of his life and maintain a reputation of respect and

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In his writing a theme that is most prevalent is that of the American dream. Although not coined that yet, as the United States didn’t exist at the time. But right from the beginning Franklin speaks to the fact that he created his success and fortune from nothing but hard work, and intelligence. When describing Franklin’s Autobiography as a primary source, it is important to note that this theme of the American Dream. Most famously from the Declaration of Independence preamble, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” ( Dec. of Ind. Pre.).

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" We see his reflection in our own time." Benjamin Franklin did not write this someone else did but it explains what Benjamin Franklin acted like and how he was a "people person" instead of a stone cold

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Both men had some affiliation with Christianity: praise and thank God for their good fortune in life. Franklin wanted to attain Moral Perfection, given that he enumerated 13 virtues: Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chasity, Humility. Franklin even contends to follow the actions of Jesus, The Son of God. He believed that the only religion that matters to him is the religion of hard work and material success. He values rationality and reasonableness above all.

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Franklin’s early passion for reading develop and shape his life as a young adult, and influence the formation, and importance placed on a public persona. He mentions his early affection for reading , “My early Readiness in learning to read (which must have been very early, as I do not remember when I could not read),” leads to a more advanced ability to study philosophy as a young man, including that of Socrates (Franklin 8). This develops his skills in debate, encouraging him to abandon “abrupt Contradiction, and positive Argumentation, and put on the humble Inquirer & Doubter…” (Franklin

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During the late eighteenth century, Benjamin Franklin was one of the intelligent fellows who blended classicism with romanticism. As he tried to accomplish moral perfection he documented his tactics and his results in The Autobiography. Franklin described this task as “an arduous project” and brought two polar aspects of life, morals and science, together to try and reach the pinnacle of morality through the creation

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Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography was a significant model of the “American dream.” Franklin shared his life during the younger years of America, which went on to have a profound and indelible mark on society and the country as we know it today. Benjamin Franklin created this foundation, and it later became a roadmap for the “American dream” through his actions of upward socioeconomic mobility, and desire to improve the common good. Using his own life as a model, Franklin proved that, in America, people had the ability to build themselves up through hard work. Benjamin Franklin grew up in a meager house in Boston with his 16 older siblings.

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This quote suggests that Franklin thought if he was frugal people would respect him more. “The Way to Wealth” and The Autobiography prove that Franklin defined one aspect of American identity as being frugal. Tyler’s definition of what it means to be an American also includes frugality. Tyler’s characters with American

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Frugality is an American ideal due to the benefits one can reap from it, and Franklin is a great example of what it means to be

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Finally, to culminate his quote, Franklin states, “...to whom you must account…” denoting a consummate topic of humanity. The answer to this maxim is ostentatious: yourself. While this notion may appear to be cliche, it represents ingenuity and perspicacity in Franklin’s

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For example for being ignorant on any subject or making errors. In my opinion, I feel that Franklin is trying to say that people who are great managers or people that are highly recognize, didn’t necessarily have great beginnings. Even though some of those people may not have come from great beginnings, they still have humbled themselves during the process of getting to the top. For example, our very own president, President Barack Obama, didn’t have a great beginning but has always remained humbled throughout the many positions that he has held.

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Franklin listed the ways and descriptions of what one should do to fall into having these as common everyday habits. Once trained to follow the virtues, by working on a specific one each week, man would be able to prove he was a paragon for the society. Franklin and his 13 virtues may not have represented the individuals of the day, but was a representation of what the “old lights” should and wanted to be

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Much like today’s American fundamentals, Franklin believed in allowing people to worship freely, without discernment or prejudice toward other

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Benjamin Franklin: The Inventor of the American Dream Benjamin Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the United States. He was a brilliant and a creative man. He was experienced in many different fields. For example, he was an important diplomat, a talented inventor, and a famous author after publishing his own autobiography. In general, he was a polymath who had an important role in the early life of America.

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Franklin claims that he has been living long enough to see errors that he made, therefore as he grow older, he tend to “doubt of [his] own judgment” because nobody is perfect due to his past experiences (43). The informations that Franklin presents is to show his reputation that he is not perfect, also his constitution but he is open minded and willing to make what is best for the people. The perspective errors of the constitution have, is being “sacrificed to the public good” meaning all the flaw that constitution have will not be reveal to the people (44). Franklin is very passion about what is best for the people and their happiness, furthermore his characteristic is very respectful toward the citizen and the congress.

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His ideas about virtue and self-improvement reflect rationalist beliefs. In The Autobiography of Ben Franklin, he made it clear to us that his experiment he conducted was a learning experience for himself. He made a list of virtues that he wanted to teach himself to conform to. As Franklin said in his biography, “My intention is being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time, and, when I should be master of that, then to

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