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In Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, initially illegitimately published in 1791, Franklin exposes his personal and profound thought process to the public. The general principle shaping and guiding his actions is the concept of balance. To truly study something, to genuinely study a discipline and know, one must understand how it is balanced in the world, and its role in balancing others. For Franklin, every object, idea, or action has a counterpart and to recognize that human beings revolve around the act of balancing every aspect of life. Not only is this reflected in his life, but also the recount of his life. His Autobiography is organized and written in such a way that Franklin is always in the midst of balancing and equalizing his particular world. One of the fundamental pillars of his balance theory is the idea of reason. He proposes that there exists the “reasonable Creature,” and furthermore that he is one (503). With reason, one is able to justify anything. This is the principle Franklin lives by and demonstrates throughout his actions and writings recorded in The Autobiography. However, there lies a fallacy in Franklin’s fundamental theory. Reason is the balance to emotion and reflex. Actions of impulse are taken without thought and without consideration—essentially without justification. If one can “reason” into and out of just about anything, then how is Franklin’s reasoning different from impulse? Although Benjamin Franklin strived to revise himself into what he considered the perfect human being, his belief in a justification for every action nullifies the need for justification because even he, the master of all trades and a revolutionary for Americans, acted through impulse and without thought.
In part one of The Autobiography, Franklin adopts a vegetarian diet due to his encounter with Thomas Tryon and his book recommending the restricted diet. Believing that the diet promoted clearness of ideas and quickness of thought, Franklin quickly adhered to it. Yet, soon, he found himself in a situation that tested his own beliefs and reason. On his first trip leaving Boston, he and his companions stopped off the coast of Rhode Island. There, his “People set about catching Cod and haul’d up a great many” (503).
In part one of The Autobiography, Franklin adopts a vegetarian diet due to his encounter with Thomas Tryon and his book recommending the restricted diet. Believing that the diet promoted clearness of ideas and quickness of thought, Franklin quickly adhered to it. Yet, soon, he found himself in a situation that tested his own beliefs and reason. On his first trip leaving Boston, he and his companions stopped off the coast of Rhode Island. There, his “People set about catching Cod and haul’d up a great many” (503).
