Franklin's Autobiography
...s. Like Molière’s Tartuffe, Franklin emphasizes the value of moderation and intelligence in achieving a life of virtue. Franklin educates an era of how to life a virtuous life. Furthermore, the Autobiography prompts inspiration to acquire a sovereign control over the mind. This is central in the works of Rene Descartes: “I think, therefore I exist.” Franklin’s ideas are created first in his mind as a dream and he then made his dreams reality via execution and practice. He acted as an empiricist, collecting knowledge from experience – to know what is right by experiencing what is wrong. This is very reminiscent to Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. In both texts, we see a man who thinks, investigates, theorizes, and invents – the emergence of the self-made man. The emphasis of experience as a means of education corresponds to the voice of David Hume. Life presents impressions and ideas and it is necessary for man to educate himself through these feelings. Franklin uses Hume’s words habit an...