"I concluded, at length, that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and 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." (64).
This quote from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin struck me. In reading the 136 pages detailing his life and ideas, I was awestruck largely at the man's steadfast determination and self-control. He was seemingly obsessed with the persuit of perfection, stating that it was his goal to achieve perfection, however, as the above quote demonstrates, he did realize that the actualization of his goal was unachievable. Nevertheless, he found value in seeking to be more "virtuous" everyday. Relating to this concept, we had discussed Benjamin Franklin's concept of freedom in class on Monday. I believe that his potential concept of freedom would have been directly related to his intense persuit of perfection and self realization. He saw the value in hard work and self-improvement, as an essentially "self-made man." In reading his autobiography and discussing with my classmates, I came to the conclusion that to Benjamin Franklin, freedom was probably largely centered upon the concept of self-improvement, a direct relation to Cullen's description of the general American Dream. In fact, I think that Benjamin Franklin would have been an advocate for people's ability to work for their own livelihoods. Agency would have been a large factor in this viewpoint, as he saw man's own willingness to be productive as central to the creation of "the good life." Keeping charts of daily virtues seems a bit much to me, but to each his own!
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