It’s time for me to grade another post. I will do this on Friday, so by Friday at 9:00 am, you should have selected a post that you want me to grade. You should mark that selection with the category Post Check in #3
Remember you cannot use your first week’s post OR the post I just looked at because I have already graded those. Please select a different post.
The What and Why Check In is Due on Monday Nov 2nd at Noon.
Rene Descartes proposed a statement using mathematical reasoning that we must accept only what we know for sure to be true. We need to abandon all of the uncertain beliefs we have accepted. He provided a method through four steps:
According to Descartes, this method had worked for him and should work for others, although not guaranteed. It may not work for some people. This differs from Franklin’s approach, which tried to focus on moral perfection through upright virtues. Franklin’s method was one that could be used by others. Through order, temperance and self-examination, Franklin strived for perfection though at the end of his life he admits that he failed. “But, on the whole, tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it (Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 74)”.
Franklin says “I judg’d 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 (Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, 70)”. Here we see Franklin being patient. Instead of trying to conquer everything at once, he does it one at a time. Unlike Descartes who tries to denounce whatever isn’t a fact or a “perfect” truth, Franklin applies his time to improving anything and everything that isn’t perfect.
Another way Franklin differs from Descartes is the purpose of the method. Descartes created the method to discover truth in the world and therefore discredited all previously held notions and beliefs. Franklin was aiming for perfection. Perfection has to do with the inner being and qualities of a man. This made Franklin observe himself through every angle making him perfect each trait of his own being.
Descartes would applaud Benjamin Franklin for trying to attain moral perfection; one of Descartes biggest theories was to study the self, “… I entirely abandoned the study of letters, and resolved no longer to seek any other science than the knowledge of myself, or of the great book of the world” (6). Descartes believed studying the self would reveal more about your own reasoning, rather than being swayed and guided by society and what you learn from formal education. Through this, he feels he has had greater success than anything he has learned from books or travelling.
Franklin studied himself and saw he had many faults, so he sought to correct them, “I enter’d upon the execution of this plan for self-examination, and continu’d it with occasional intermissions for some time. I was surpris’d to find myself so much fuller of faults than I had imagined; but I had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish” (150). In his autobiography, he outlined how he was going correct his fault and attain moral perfection, by following these 13 virtues: Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, and Humility (146). He set out to adapt all these virtues by slowing integrating them into his life, one per week, and kept a journal of all his faults that he wished to correct in relation to the virtue. Without knowing the outcome, one can just imagine that Franklin’s overall quality of life improved. He became a happier man, “…yet I was, by the endeavour, a better and a happier man than I otherwise should have been if I had not attempted it” (151). I believe Franklin studying himself and applying these virtues, making his life better, is the perfect example of Descartes theory to study the self.
I agree with what T. Ahmed said about perfection. Especially when she talks about how it is almost impossible to be perfect for a human being. This can also be seen in the biography when he states that “Order, too, with regard to places for things, papers, etc., I found extremely difficult to acquire. I had not been early accustomed to it, and, having an exceeding good memory, I was not so sensible of the inconvenience attending want of method” (Franklin, Chapter9), this shows that even though he tried to perfect himself, but realized he wasn’t able to and found it difficult the more he tried. He tried so hard and wasn’t able to perfect himself and he concluded that every man has a fault and no one in this world is perfect. He admits that a person should have faults in him otherwise people will be jealous and hate him for his perfection and that is seen when he states that, “a perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated; and that a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself” (Franklin, Chapter 9), he clearly says that a person of perfection is definitely going to be hated by society and that it is almost necessary for a person so have faults in himself to be so called “normal” in society. This supports T. Ahmed’s idea because she basically says that you can find happiness in your flaws and this idea correlates with the idea of having flaws and that being “normal” for society.
I choose to do a peer response to Mohammed Uddin’s post because I really enjoyed how his post was formatted and the examples he gave were great. He referred to the list of 13 qualities In the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, in which Franklin believe are the main attributes of perfection. Personally, I believe “perfection” is subjective. What is perfect for one, may not be what the next person considers perfection. However for the sake of the text, I’ll just be referring to the 13 qualities that Franklin mentions. When comparing and contrasting the two texts, Mohammed mentioned “Cleanliness” and the fact that Tom was egotistic and selfish (which I believe falls under “humility”). Through much of the story Tom absolutely displays selfish actions. In chapter 2, Tom’s Aunt Polly asked him to white wash the fence. Not only did he get other neighborhood boys to do his chore, he also convinced them that it was a great privilege and in exchange they would give Tom various gifts to get have such an “honor”. I believe Tom was content with not having these attributes, just as Franklin said he was ok with being imperfect. As Mohammed stated “Even though Sawyer doesn’t meet the 13 attributes that Franklin describes (Tom never strives for perfection), he still maintains a happy and blissful life”. While I consider humility to be an extremely important quality and Tom’s action were not just, as the story progressed he did grow; though, by the end of the story, Tom was still an imperfect being. As M0hammed says “Perfection doesn’t embody happiness” and I could not agree more!
In many ways, Benjamin Franklin relates to many of us as students. Students or people in general are always looking for ways to essentially meet perfection. We try to organize our lives and come up with plans to follow by eliminating bad habits and creating good ones. In the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin he “conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection (Franklin, 64).” He comes up with 13 virtues that one may follow to become flawless and admits that it will be difficult and tiring.
A few virtues that I find myself trying to follow are order, frugality and industry. He explains order as “letting all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time (64).” This is where many people start their journey to “perfection.” We try to create order in our lives and follow precise schedules like Franklin who thought order “would allow [him] more time for attending to [his] project and my studies (65).” However, when he tried to follow all his virtues, he found that “order gave [him] the most trouble (68).” Even organizing his papers and things he found “difficult to acquire (68).” Though order may seem easy to follow at first, it is probably the most difficult follow through with.
For frugality, Benjamin describes it as “making no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e,. waste nothing (64).” College students are all about saving money, however, for as long as I have been a student, one of the hardest things to do is save my money. I found myself spending on things that had no use to me or only had use for that moment. Franklin believed that this was one piece to “freeing [him] from [his] remaining debt (65),” which is true. He didn’t have many issues with being frugal, but as for myself this would be the category I would often mark as one of my faults.
Lastly, industry that he expresses as “losing no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions (64).” This was the second piece he believed could “free [him] from [his] remaining debt (65).” Like Franklin, I wouldn’t mark this category as one of my greatest flaws. In the end, everyone wants to earn a living somehow and this can only be gained through working and filling in empty hours with progress.
By the end of his project, Benjamin Franklin “had the satisfaction of seeing them diminish (68).” However, he didn’t reach perfection in each virtue and found that it was difficult to be flawless. Though he couldn’t fulfill his project he was happy with how far he has gotten. He believes that one can reach perfection if “he first forms a good plan, and, cutting off all amusements or other employments that would divert his attention (72).” You learn from Benjamin that becoming “perfect” doesn’t always lead to a happy life, if anything you’d have to eliminate happiness in order to reach perfection.
Benjamin Franklin like many of the theorists we read about came up with plans of how to be the best or gain the most knowledge, however it is difficult to follow each way perfectly. Benjamin Franklin expresses that though arriving at moral perfection is great, it cannot easily be reached. I think if anyone were to read his autobiography, they would easily be able to relate to trying to become perfect, but not succeeding.
I agree with Tasnima Ahmed’s statements about the correlation between Benjamin Franklin and Tom Sawyer from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. She said that Benjamin Franklin and Tom Sawyer are both imperfect beings, but that does not stop them from being happy. This proves the notion that perfection does not necessarily attribute to happiness.
She refers back to the text Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin where Benjamin Franklin stated 13 qualities that make up a perfect person. Even though Benjamin Franklin did not have these 13 qualities, he stated that a man should allow himself to have a few flaws, so that his friends will support him. He stated that if someone were to be perfect, others might get jealous of him and envy him, therefore he would not have any friends. “…a perfect character might be attended with the inconvenience of being envied and hated” (Franklin9).
Tom Sawyer was not a perfect person either; he had his flaws. One of his flaws was that he refused to bathe for Sunday school. Uncleanliness is obviously a quality that would make a person far from perfect. This quality is also looked down upon by society as a whole. However, this quality did not cause Tom Sawyer to live a sad life.
Perfectionism will not always lead to happiness. One accepting who and how they are and being content with it, will lead to happiness.
René Descartes’ method approaches a change in man in quite the drastic way compared to Franklin’s views. To make sure that the man knows only what is absolutely certain, he must denounce all formerly held beliefs and knowledge acquired through formal education or personal experiences. The man must start completely fresh, and in order to gain that absolutely certain knowledge, a mathematical-like method must be followed. First, one must accept things only known to be true, second, one must then divide any questions or experimentations into as many parts as possible, so that the most “adequate solution” may be obtained (Descartes, Part II). Third, these questions must be tackled from the simplest ones to the most complex, and finally, complete the answers fully and review them frequently to ensure full understanding. Additionally, Descartes acknowledges the fact that this may not work for everyone who tries it, but that it has certainly worked for him.
Benjamin Franklin’s plan is very different from Descartes’ proposed ideas. Franklin’s plan focuses on moral perfection instead of Descartes’ goal in obtaining ultimate truth and certainty. Because of this, Franklin’s plan is approached very differently compared to Descartes’ mathematical method; Franklin focuses instead on ethical qualities, determined in acquiring “the habitude of all these virtues” (Franklin, IX, 3rd Paragraph). Another difference in approach is Franklin’s belief that the change in self should be gradual, “that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct” (Franklin, IX, 1st Paragraph). Instead of getting rid of all his past habits, beliefs, and knowledge like Descartes’ plan mandates, Franklin embraces his past ways of life and his plan includes integrating each virtue into his daily life gradually. This is so that they may be fully assimilated into him and so that he may feel proud after seeing the progress he has recorded in his memorandum book.
Also differing from Descartes, Franklin soon learns to accept any flaws in his own moral perfection, writing, “a benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself” (IX, 7th Paragraph). As opposed to Descartes’ views that one should not accepted faulty ideas, Franklin embraces the flaws he discovers in himself from following his plan. From this, Franklin becomes an overall happier man, who learns how to rid himself of his pride and through this, becomes someone who is easy to get along with for he no longer is aggressive in giving his opinions. Another difference in Franklin and Descartes’ approaches is that Franklin implies his belief in everyone who attempts a similar plan. Contrary to Descartes, who provides a disclaimer that he has only tried his method on himself and therefore it may not work on everyone else, Franklin suggests his firm belief that as long as one has “tolerable abilities” and has a “good plan,” he will “work great changes” and “accomplish great affairs among mankind” (IX, 19th Paragraph).
I found Benjamin Franklin’s 13 virtues are very interesting and useful because I agree with him on most of them (not necessarily the order). For me, my top three virtues according from Franklin’s list is 1. Moderation, 2. Silence, 3. Resolution. Franklin defines moderation as to avoid extremes and that is what I always believe the right thing to do. I think no matter what I do I should always control myself from going to far or over react. Even with anger, I think people should control themselves from being extreme because that will bring them to the unwanted situation or even regret in the future. Second, Franklin defines silence as to avoid trifling conversation. I think what he means is similar to a Chinese proverb “diseases enter by the mouth; misfortunes issue from it.” This proverb means that don’t just say whatever you want, be aware of who is listening and what is the consequence. A “careless talk” can either hurt other people or put yourself in trouble. Lastly, it’s resolution. Franklin means to do what you resolve even you fail. I always believe to never give up is a good thing to do because the more you try, the more you gain from trying even though you fail, you still learn something from it.