In English 11 today, we read the "Moral Perfection" excerpt from The Autobiography of Ben Franklin.
We talked about how the Puritans' children and grandchildren took the Puritan religious ethic of self-scrutiny (constantly checking for sins) and morphed it into the Englightenment ideal of human perfection.
Benjamin Franklin took this concept very seriously. He set up a system whereby he practiced a list of virtues [in a scientific way] in order to become a better person.
We looked at Franklin's list and discussed whether or not some of the virtues listed by Franklin need new definitions for the modern world. They are as follows: Temperance (self-control), Silence, Order (organization), Resolution (Determination), Frugality (thrift) , Industry (hard work), Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility and Chastity (sexual purity). We asked: should we subtract from the list Franklin made to "fit" it to today's world, or should we add to it?
Here's the list Period One came up with:
being a leader
being peaceful
being honest
being law-abiding
being in control of one's self
valuing education
being free
respecting equality
being respectful
following the Golden Rule
being a patriot
In your post you might consider any of the following questions:
- Which of these qualities (from the Period One list) do you think are the most important in today's society?
- Which of the Period One list qualities are of less importance in today's society?
- Which of the qualities from Franklin's list are most important?
- Which of the qualities from Franklin's list have little relevance in today's world?
- If you were going to make a list for your peers and yourself to follow, which ones would you choose?
- Which specific qualities in Franklin's list of virtues might be undervalued?
21 comments:
Society today needs honesty and an introduction to a more formal, absolute moral and ethical responsibility.
I feel the most important virtues of today is to treat others as you would want yourself to be treated. It is, because you need to have respect for others, and if everyone followed this people wouldn't be doing the bad things that they are to each other today. Another important virtue is being a leader, because people need to set a good example for others. To be a leader by always doing the right thing.
Vitally important virtues to society today:
Helping others and striving for improvement.
In my opinion, these are the virtues we need in society today.
1. Temperance: Nobody should get drunk, high, or get obese from eating too much.
2. Honesty: Everyone should at least attempt to tell the truth as much as possible.
Alecia--yes, I would agree that we need to add "care for the environment" to the list Franklin made. Judicial use of our natural resources wasn't a large topic of discussion when the Puritans were looking at a primeval forest!
Arielle--that is exactly what the father of the Columbine victim said last night on the CBS Evening News with Paula Zahn in reference to the slayings in the Amish school yesterday. He was stressing that we need absolutes in our society.
An important virtue for society today to have is brotherly love. I define brotherly love as simply being kind and lenient with people. This would solve or prevent a lot of problems.
For the next virtue I would have to agree with Arielle. We need moral absolutes. There are not two opposing "truths" to one situation, after all.
No sooner do you ask, *Hand*, than your Moderator deletes...
Patience is also very important today, especially in a high school environment.
Waiting in lunch lines, enduring a boring lesson, or opening that stupid locker that takes FOUR TIMES TO OPEN EVERY TIME MAKING YOU LATE TO CLASS ALL THE TIME.
It would be very difficult to get through high school without patience, and the hard work ethic mentioned was also a good choice.
We can take away siolence because, it is kinda hard to keep coversations short, people are always talking. we can add equalty beause there isnt all that many equal rights in this cointry even though there is surpose to be equal right for everyone.
I think that Temperance "Self-Restraint" is a very important one. If everyone has control of them selves then there wouldn't be as much crime, people would be less violent, and it would make society better.
Silence is important at times I think, like knowing when and when not to talk.
One example I can think of is in Band, when Mr Brown is trying to teach people what they are doing wrong and there is always a few jerks who feel like talking.
Was talking to my friend about how he's going to snap one day. Talking in Band is ok, but not when it gives him a headache!
Sophomores are so callow. *fills out card*
I've read all of the previous posts and i decided that i did not need to restate any of them. I'm not saing that they are unimportant, but I think that some of them are a given. You know, peace, honesty, environmental awareness, etc.
I think that people should try being less biased. In this age of believing whatever you want, people say some very ignorant things based on what they think is right or trendy. People often do things because they see others that they envy doing them. A lot of people who are so affected by their religions are biased.
I am not saying that all bias is necessarily bad, but I think that the human race as a whole could try to be open to a lot more ideas than they are. Biased people cause a lot of problems in our world. We have presidents who run countries with their religions and people who hate an entire race of people for the actions of a few.
My true opinion is if everyone went by these Virtures then the world would be a better place but then again is there anybody that could ever do that? NO Franklin made them and he couldn't even do it for a week. The simly fact is that these are more or less gidelines, and that if people would live with one Virtue that alows for mistakein the other. THat virtue is Pride, wheather is it self pride or just having pirde in what you are involed in. Think about the fact that yes you may get angery at someone and lose controle, but with the least bit of self pride you would go and settle it maturly (which in resent events i have found many people do not have any means of maturity and will not just end something or be mature about it). ALso if you have any pride in you living or work or even you image then you would most likely be cleaner as a general, you would want to be more proffeionsal at work orschool and maybe keep your area clean and orderly, then there is the self image that some people may feal is not big deal but to anyone that has any self reaspect self chastity should be controle not nessisarily totally, what you do is your business but to flaunt it around is disgusting. there are many ways that pride is good and that to me is the best and most valuable virtue.
There you have it excuse me for any spelling and or punctuation mistakes 9 but i am not going to edit my opinion lol) JC white OUT!
To J. C.: Pride can be a virtue or a vice. In moderation it is a very important virtue, but in excess it is a terrible vice. It has destroyed people and nations. It has split marriages. It can be so terrible that a person kills because of it. So be careful when you say it's a virtue.
To: Under Fictitious Skies: I agree with you, but some people's personality is offensive to others. One thing that would really help everyone as a whole is if people would recognize this, and at least attempt to not be offensive. In Mr. Mihalik's classes, if what you do or say is offensive to others, they will say "Wombat." This helps everyone to be comfortaable and try not to offend others.
W.O.M.B.A.T.
When
Offensive
Material
Becomes
A
Threat
Things are getting a bit off topic, but it's an interesting off-topic.
If you seriously can't think of why people get offended when a white man makes a racial joke, then take a few seconds. How have they used such words or jokes over the past 300 years?
Lightening up is ok, but not to the point where little grade school and high school kids think it's ok to use racial slurs.
It may seem unfair, but as Dave Chapelle says: "At least you rule the god damn world."
Back on topic: I think that speech and grammar might actually be lesser virtues if silence is a virtue.
Think about it, if you actually take the time to think before you speak, not only will you personally sound more intelligent, but you might avoid saying things you don't mean.
Works for writing too. If you actually look at what you write, not only will your work look better, but you are able to get your point across clearer.
Of course, recognizing your mistakes can be difficult sometimes, but easy mistakes like "right" instead of "write", forgetting a period, or even mixing up two words are so easy to catch and recognize if you just look at what you write once over.
To: "Watkins": I think the point that "hand that rocks the empty cradle" is trying to make is as follows. When a white guy makes a joke about some minority, he gets in a lot of trouble. However, if a black man says something about a minority, or about white trash, do they get in trouble? No. In my opinion this is discrimination.
Everyone has different views on the topic really. It is undebatably discrimination, but some people think it's justified.
Some think of it as not fair, some think of it as stupid, and some think of it as "hey, you had your chance".
The colonists kept Africans and Indians screwed for a good 200 years, and while it still feels silly to some for them to remain bitter about it, for others it makes total sense to hold a grudge for what their ancestors had to go through (and even their parents and grandparents). So some people might just be raised that way.
So now I hope you can see why a white man wouldn't dare go the bounds that Mencia and Chapelle do on television, a lot of people would be very angry.
But for a practical situation in school, imagine how it would feel to be one of the few people of that minority in a school, and white kids were freely making racial or jewish jokes in front of you. That's a main reason why it's a big deal.
You can also compare white jokes to other minority jokes. Are white jokes as extreme? No.
Again, it is discrimination. But it's so hard to draw the line and SO hard to figure out what is acceptable or not in todays society. I simply gave reasons for what I think is the cause of the behavior.
It's so rare to see a comedian these days who's not making fun of a minority or women or men, it's like there's nothing else funny out there.
Cradle asked why it wasn't offensive, and I told him what I hope to be is why.
Poor Mrs. Vigue, getting her Blog derailed. Sorry! Delete my posts if you want, I won't mind.
Not at all! The point of a blog is to stimulate critical thinking, not to stifle it! You guys just keep discussing the things that interest you.
As for the question that asks which virtue is perhaps the most important for the today's society, it cannot be answered. All of the virtues - those that Franklin listed and those that we listed - are like straw in a weaved basket.
You can't separate virtues by their importance; there are different virtues for different situations. Collectively, all of the virtues affect eachother, some cannot be done without the other, etc.
Moral perfection is an oxymoron: morals are not perfect, therefore, a society, an individual, even Pleasantville cannot obtain it!
The virtue of Cleanliness, for example, can never be obtained by today's society. Some people might have excessive body odor, others might have Leprocy....Does that make them unclean even if they apply all of the appropriate hygiene products?
Even Honesty is flawed; there are always those "white lie" instances. For example, someone asks you, "Does this dress make me look fat?" Do you say "Yes" and hurt their feelings or lie to them to make them feel better? (Sure you could find a nice way by suggesting to try on another outfit, but no matter what your answer is to avoid the clear answer, you still risk hurting someone's feelings....Which, kind of goes against the virtue of Sincerity, but then again, that person shouldn't have gotten mad in the first place, which goes against Tranquility....All of these virtues seem to be connected, get my drift? ;)
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