Reflection- Philosophies of deism

Ben Franklin is known as kind of the enterpenuer of his day. He pretty much did everything. He was anything from a philopoher to an inventor, and it seems as though he succeeded in just about everything that he did. He was a very intelligent man and activily agreed with rationalism and Deism. He had thirteen virtues that he is known for. Virtues are very similair to morals. Ben Franklin's virtues were not only very wise but he was rational in the way he went about them.

He had two sets of his virtues. The first set was personal. The personal virtues are the morals or virtues that are about your attitude, activities, and the challenges that you face within your personal situations. If you have a good character you are probably going to go farther in life, or at least achieve your personal goals, or at least reach your goals in a way that you are morally okay with. The first personal virtues were temperance and order. Temperance is rational because if you do things rationally you do them in moderation, you do not just blow things up, because it can be overwhelming. The order aspect of personal virtues is rational because it is organizing and if you are a rationalist you must prove your points. The next few virtues of Franklin were resolution and frugality. Rationalists wanted a a resolution to things(Franklin). Moderation and industry were also a part of Franlin's virtues. Moderation is similair to temperance. But industry is rational becausy you are always supposed to be working and getting things done. Most rationalists probably use the industry virtue and have a good work ethic because they know it is rational to have a good work ethic in order to get things done. Rationalist are always busy(Franklin). the last two personal virtues were cleanliness and tranquility. Cleanliness is not really a rational virtue just something that i agree everyone should follow. Even though a lot of people do not... Ben Franklin's personal virtues showed how he incorporated his life and actual virtues into rationalism(Bloom).

Along with personal virtues, Franklin also had social virtues. These included things like silence, sincerity, justice, chasity, and humility. The silence aspect is rational because you can not speak bad things about other people because of karma. It will come back around and get you. With sincerity, you just need to be sincere because it is the right thing to do and you must be sincere and understanding in situations. Justice is showing that rationalists wanted peace and they just want to do what is right and have to do what needs to be done for something to get accomplished(Franklin). Chasity is not really related to rationalism, but I am sure that Franklin was thinking of something rational when he wrote his virtues. The final social virtue is humility and it says to imitate Jesus(Bloom). Rationalists did what was needed, they did not always rely on other or god to get them where they need to be, they did that themselves. The social virtues especially written by Franklin pertained to rationalism.

Bloom, Harold, ed. "Benjamin Franklin." Benjamin Franklin, Classical Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary referance Onlin. Facts on File, Inc.

Boucquey, Thierry, gen. ed. "Franklin, Benjamin." Encyclopedia of World Writers, 14th through 18th Centuries. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Onlin. Facts on File, Inc.