A634.6.3.RB - What are Virtues?

A634.6.3.RB - What are Virtues?

Benjamin Franklin's self-improvement program included 13 virtues that he felt were important guides for living along with principles for each that would, in his opinion, define a person of good character. He developed a scorecard for evaluating how well he measured up to his own ideals. Throughout his life, Franklin tried to live by these virtues though not always successfully.

Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues (PBS, n.d.):

1. Temperance: Eat not to dullness. Drink not to elevation.

2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.

3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.

4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.

5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e., Waste nothing.

6. Industry: Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. Moderation: Avoid extremes. Forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes, or habitation.

11. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. Chastity: Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Select three of Franklin's virtues and reflect upon them in your blog. Ask yourself, how can I include them in my daily life?

Even before I took the on-line test to see how I measured up to Ben’s list of virtues, I picked Tranquility and Resolution as two of the three virtues I needed to work on and incorporate them more into my daily life. The third one, Order, definitely needs a place in my daily life as well. (My test said that I should work on Temperance but since the reality is that I usually have a glass or two of wine a week - I'm going to skip that one. I'm 43 for crying out loud; I'm too busy to be drunk.)

3. Order: Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time.

4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.

11. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

Looking at Resolution, basically to perform what I ought and perform without fail what you resolve. It’s basically do what you say you’re going to do and do it well. I have such a problem with procrastination that this resonated with me on many levels. Actually, the procrastination that I have such a problem with comes from my lack of tranquility. I get anxiety about doing the things I’m supposed to be doing so much so that I actually self-sabotage. Then I realize that I’m doing it and stress over that too. If I had more order in my life though, perhaps the tranquility and resolution would follow. The 13 virtues do seem somewhat interrelated.

Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues have a place in modern day life and the fact that Ben was not as virtuous as he said we should all be in his list of 13 virtues actually gives me hope. While Franklin never accomplished his goal of moral perfection, and had some notable flaws (womanizing and his love of beer probably gave him some problems with chastity and temperance), he felt he benefited from the attempt of it (McKay, 2008). Most of the great leaders that we celebrate today, even hundreds of years after their deaths, were still just humans after all. They tripped and fell, learned right from wrong, made mistakes, and were still able to make a lasting mark on humanity that will outlive their human forms. Jesus and Socrates included! [V]irtue theory puts excessive emphasis on the individual agent...overemphasizes the agent's personal purity and the actions of individual agents...in ways that are psychologically implausible. (LaFollette, 2007)  

Most of us try to be good people and we live by some personal credo or set of rationale that sets us up in the right direction every day. It could be some motto that we repeat to ourselves while getting ready to face the day or even a song we play on our way to work to get us in the right mindset. We try to do our best but we make mistakes and hopefully learn from those mistakes which help us make tomorrow better. I think that’s what the virtues Ben Franklin wrote were to him too. They were his list of things to work on, and he kept track of those things and what he needed to work harder on. We all falter in life and it’s just nice to know that we’re in good company!

References

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

McKay, Brett & Kate (2008). Lessons in manliness: Benjamin Franklin’s pursuit of the virtuous life. Lessons in manliness. http://www.artofmanliness.com/2008/02/24/lessons-in-manliness-benjamin-franklins-pursuit-of-the-virtuous-life/

PBS.(n.d.). Ben’s 13 virtues. PBS.org. http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/pop_virtues_list.html