Assignment 3 Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was definitely considered a rationalist. He made this be known in many different ways with his different studies and experiments. In my opinion, the list he made of the thirteen virtues was what definitely defined him as a rationalist. He believed that society was run by natural law and that he could improve himself by following the list he made. “I propos'd to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annex'd to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurr'd to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully express'd the extent I gave to its meaning.” Benjamin Franklin not only listed these virtues, but he also described what each one of them meant to him personally. He knew he could improve himself by trying to follow this list.