BENJAMIN FRANKLIN:THE ICON OF RATIONALISM1706 - 1790

“…everything but a poet.”

A man committed to the commonweal: B. Franklin - “The First American”

Printer – apprentice -> owner Writer – Silence Do Good -> Poor Richard Saunders Publisher – newspaper -> almanac - > printing franchise Civic advocate – library, hospital, Philosophical Society, fire

department, fire insurance, Scientist – electricity, physics, oceanography Inventor – Franklin stove, swim flippers, bifocals, lightning rod Diplomat – colonial representative -> England & France Statesman – Continental Congress -> Declaration of

Independence -> Treaty of Paris -> Constitutional Convention

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin published in various editions 1790 - 1868

If he could, anyone could: runaway apprentice - > working man ->

business owner -> civic advocate ->

politician -> international diplomat

The Moral Essay“Arriving at Moral Perfection” - the thirteen virtues

Addresses the Rationalist belief in self-improvementEncourages logical, reasoned, orderly process – One virtue per week, thirteen weeks, repeated 4 times per

year = Success!Metaphor of gardener: weeding one bed at a time

keeps from overwhelming the gardener

AphorismsFrom Poor Richard’s Almanack Published from

1732 til 1758

Common sense for and from the common man – everyday wisdom drawn from the common experience of everyday life: flies & honeyhorses & horseshoes visitors & fish

Bibliography EOL Benjamin Franklin (1778, New York , The Metropolitan Museum of

Art) nibiryukov.narod.ru http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/index.htm http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/inventions.htm http://www.colourfulpalate.com/2011/07/16/square-foot-gardening/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Richard%27s_Almanack http://winnipeganimals.blogspot.com/2010/05/benjamin-franklin-ea

ting-bread.html

http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/ http://photographicdictionary.com/h/horseshoe http://souptonutz.wordpress.com/page/2/