Semester Final
There's a very distinct evolution in the philosophies we studied. Puritans belief consisted of following God's plan. Those who followed their own plan, especially the path that disobeyed God, were shunned and punished. Deists however were very much the antithesis of Puritans. They believed in religious freedom but put human logic and reason above all else. Transcendentalism was an evolution of the deist beliefs, they put humans knowledge above all else and believed that human self reliance was a crucial skill. The main beliefs of these philosophies was that they developed from a traditionalist point of view to a individualistic one.
Starting with Puritanism a philosophy that placed god above all else and followed his strict rule set. Naturally if people here to break said rules they were to be punished. Puritans stressed conformity and didn't take kindly to the people who didn’t. This sort of behaviour can be seen in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, and although the play isn't a puritan text the author went through great pains to maintain historical accuracy. In the Crucible people who didn’t conform with the other townsfolk would be accused of witchcraft for their odd behaviour. Puritans believed that everyone should follow god's rules to a tee and that those who didn’t should be punished.
…show more content…
These ideals are shown by Benjamin Franklin in his book Poor Richard's Almanac. In the text Franklin encourages the reader to invest in knowledge and that “always pays the best interest”. Abigail Adams reinforces these ideals in her letter to John Adams. She explains to her husband the importance of knowledge telling him he has more of an advantage than he ever did “Ignorant of it”. Deists took pride in their belief of logical reasoning and it was the first step in a evolution towards