Journal 6- Franklin

                                                            Name: Brian Cadden

Journal #6

From Ben Franklin’s The Autobiography (p. 80 – 83)

Write a well-developed paragraph in response to the following questions.

1. Explain what was involved in Franklin’s plan for self-perfection?   What conclusion did Franklin come to regarding the effectiveness of this plan?

Franklin planned to perfect himself by strengthening the 13 virtues that were in his opinion the road to self-perfection. In order to do this he would attempt each week to focus on one virtue and not to stray from the path. The logic of this plan was that each week he would strengthen each of the individual virtues until eventually he had mastered them all. Franklin felt that even though he had not completely succeeded the exercise in “self-examination” had benefited his character and he hoped his descendants would follow his example in future.

2. Do you feel that a plan such as Franklin’s would improve you as a person?  Why or why not?  What would be your top five virtues? 

I feel like a plan such as Franklin’s would not be able to improve me as a person, mainly because all too often we overlook our own faults. I believe that if I were to be grading myself on my own virtues I may end up overlooking many of my failures and subsequently not improve due to this. Rather, I believe the exercise instead helps to stop bad habits but not truly change the personality of someone.

My top five virtues would be:

1. Compassion
2. Justice
3. Honesty
4. Peace
5. Intellect

Journal 5- Thomas Paine

Journal #5 – from Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” (p.95-6)

1. Identify the specific argument that Paine is making in each paragraph.  For each of the arguments, identify whether Paine is making an emotional, ethical, or logical appeal and suggest an effective counterargument.

          #1

          #2

          #3

          #4 Paine is saying that it is ok to fight when your enemy is a thief and stealing your livelihood from you. As long as you are fighting in self-defense the war is justified. Paine is making an emotional and logical appeal to the American people by saying that if you were to be attacked you would fight back. A counter- argument would be that the British are very strong, much stronger than the colonies and if the colonies were to fight them many people would get killed and if they lost Britain would punish them harshly.

2. Can you identify any of the logical fallacies that we discussed in Paine’s arguments?  If so, which ones?  Overall, what do you feel are the strengths and weaknesses of Paine’s arguments?   

Paine makes a false analogy about Great Britain. Comparing them to thieves that burn and pillage when really it is just tax. This is kind of misleading to the reader.

I feel that the strong points of Paine’s argument are that he is able to appeal the emotional sides of his reader’s minds but he failed to mention that there will be terrible sacrifices when the colonies stand up to, and fight against Britain.