Analyzing Franklin's Virtues

Franklin made his virtues so he could become a better person overall.  The common question that needs an answer is, were his virtues effective in his goal of being a better person?  Franklin shows in his autobiography, and Tuckerman supports this as well, that Franklin's virtues did make him an overall better person.  He became more frugal, sincere, and more intelligent in the ways he decided to live and dedicate his life.  He truly followed his virtues to become a better person.

Franklin began more frugal in his life in many ways.  A quote from his autobiography shows that the virtue of frugality helps other virtues be accomplished:

" Frugality and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc ."(Franklin 85).

This quote shows that frugality was a chosen virtue that extended into other virtues. Frugality was one of the most important virtues that Franklin established because it did have more then just the lone virtue. It extended into silence, moderation, tranquility, and industry (Franklin 83). This virtue is the wasting of nothing. For example, silence is keeping your words to yourself if they are not useful. Frugality go into this because one must not waste their words on pointless thinks, therefore be frugal with your words. This virtue along with the other one's it extends upon made Franklin a better person. Tuckerman elaborates on Franklin's qualities with this quote:

"Who can estimate the vast encouragement derived by the lowliest seeker for knowledge and social elevation from such a minute chart of life, frankly revealing every stage of poverty, scepticism, obscure toil, dissipation, on the one side, and, on the other, of manly resolution, indefatigable industry, frugal self-denial, patient study, honest and intelligent conviction, by means of which the fugitive printer's boy,"(Bloom 2).

This quote shows that Franklin had indeed become a better person through all of these qualities he possesses, including being frugal.

Franklin also becomes a better person through his sincerity. He was sincere in his following of the virtues. He marked what he failed upon honestly and tried to improve his faults the best he could. Sincerity was such an important virtue to follow because without sincerity he would never be able to be honest with himself about being a better person. Franklin's journey to being a greater person would have been pointless if he were to pushed aside his faults and ignore them. It would have been an endless failure if he was not sincere in his pursuing of being a better man. Tuckerman says that Franklin a greater man than other philosophers:

"If we compare the life of Franklin, as a whole, with that of other renowned philosophers, we find that the isolated self-devotion, the egotism and vanity, which too often derogate from the interest and dignity of their characters as men, do not mar the unity of the tranquil, honest, and benign disposition which lends a gracious charm to the American philosopher."(Bloom 7).

Tuckerman obviously agrees with the opinion of Franklin improving himself as a man and philosopher. Franklin's sincerity was a key element to his journey to being a better man.

Another aspect that made Franklin successful in his voyage to being a better person was his increased intelligence from the experiences of implementing his virtues. He gained so much more personal insight on his life and how life should be lived. He made a whole system of virtues that gave him information about human life and what humans should do to gain more out of life and to put more value into his life and others. Ben Franklin shares one of his favorite proverbs in his autobiography:

" "O powerful Goodness! bountiful Father! merciful Guide! increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. strengthen my resolutions to perform what that wisdom dictates. Accept my kind offices to thy other children as the only return in my power for thy continual favors to me."(Franklin 87).

This shows that Franklin valued wisdom and that he wished to have wisdom so that he could live to his full potential and discover more about himself. His wish to gain more wisdom and the fact that he did, indeed, find his way of gaining this intelligence in life by implementing his virtues, proves that Franklin improved himself as a person.

Hence, Franklin became a better person through his increased intelligence, his sincerity, and his frugality. These aspects of Franklin's virtue system showed that he committed and was successful in his goal. He may not have reached the level of self improvement that he wanted, but nonetheless he progressed highly as a person. Therefore, it can be concluded that Franklin's system of virtues fulfilled its purpose of helping Franklin become a better person.

Franklin, Benjamin, and Leonard Woods Labaree. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. New Haven: Yale UP, 1964. Print

Bloom, Harold, ed. "The Character of Franklin." Benjamin Franklin, Classic Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.