The Rationalist

1. Breifly describe the differencences between the Puritans and the Rationalists. Please be careful not to repeat the same words you have read in this entry. Then give an example of something going on today that would be a good illustration of Puritan thought, and one that would be a good example of Rationalist thought.

The Puritans believed that almost everything happened because of God. They don't really acknowledge that some things might happen without God doings. They actually think that it is insulting God's work to figure out other ways that things happen. They believe that God does things that is not harmful and nobody should worry about things he do and just basically let him be.

An example of a Puritan thought would probably be having kids. They probably believe that it is a special gift from God and that he decides whether you deserve to have it or not. Basically if you had a child it is all because of God and you had nothing to do with it. On the other hand a rationalist would go into depth and find out what was involved in order to conceive the child/children. A rationalist would look at things like the sexual activity, what role does the sperm play in having a child and things of that nature.



2. Read the excerpt from The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin in the red American Literature book. Pay special attention to the efforts Franklin made to improve his life.You can read the entire autobiography here. This may be interesting to browse through.





3. Give one example from The Autobiography of how Franklin is a good example of a rationalist. Make sure you explain why, and provide an example straight from the text.
One way Ben Franklin is a good example of a rationalist because of the way he tried to reach moral perfection. On the other hand a puritan would probably ask God to change them and they would feel like they have no control over whether they change or not. Ben Franklin made a list of thirteen flaws about himself that needs to be changed in order for him to reach moral perfection. Then he made a weekly chart with the days of the week on the top row and abbreviations of the 13 flaws in a vertical column. Each day if he made a mistake he would mark it.
" I crossed these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginnings of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line and in its proper column I might mark by a little black spot every fault I found, upon examination, to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day."

4. If you were to make a list of thirteen virtues to improve upon in your life, what would they be? List them the way Franklin did. There are a couple more good examples here. Do you think you could reach moral perfection in this way? Explain how you feel. This should be a paragraph or two.
To Trusting: Sometimes I go wrong by trusting someone to much without knowing them much.
Motivation: I'm not always motivated as I should be in order to achieve challenging goals.
To Friendly: No matter what kind of person someone is I will accept them as my friend and I don't like that I'm like that.
Conceited: I'm a little to much into myself. I'm always in a mirror and I constantly worry about my physical flaws. (lol)
Disobedient: I try to do everything my mom ask but sometimes I disobey her by accident and not even know until after.
Goofy: I know It's good to laugh but honestly I think I laugh to much at anything.
Poor Diet: I know it's in the bible that you shouldn't glut. I eat beyond fullness and I know that's very bad.
Responsibility: I wouldn't say I'm totally irresponsible but there is definetly some room for improvement.
Pray: I don't pray like I should and I don't attend church like I should, and I hardly ever look at a bible.
Tension Span: I get off task really easily especially if I'm doing something I don't want to and something around me is going on that I'm more interesting in I start paying attention to that.
Mistake Maker: I know everyone makes mistakes but I think I make careless ones that can easily be avoided.
Seriousness: I don't really takes some things as serious as I should.
Pride: If I'm in a class that I really like I will take a lot of pride in my work but in a subject like math or science I just be like "whatever, as long as I pass."
No I do not think that I will get perfect because no one can. If I changed all my virtues to the max then I feel like I will be very close to perfect. Honestly I don't think I can ever change all of them because some of them like "being goofy" is just apart of my personality. On the other hand the ones like responsibility and seriousness has to be changed because it will better me as a soon to be business woman.