In his Autobiography’s opening paragraphs, Benjamin Franklin makes a sardonic celebration of what was and has long been considered by Christianity and other world religions as both a mortal sin and a serious character flaw: namely, personal vanity. Overturning thousands of years of religious common sense, Franklin informs his audience that vanity far from being a moral wrong is actually productive of a social good. Indeed, in his famously ironic manner, Franklin tells us that “it would not be quite absurd if Man were to thank God for his Vanity among the other Comforts of Life.” Why so, according to Franklin? Because, according to Franklin, some display of personal vanity “is often productive of Good to the Possessor and to others that are within his Sphere of Action” (221). Thus, per Franklin, vanity has the potential to create positive effects in the modern world.
For this discussion forum, I would like for you to think about what Franklin means here by vanity and how he promotes this “virtue” throughout his autobiography. Surely, he is not merely talking about what vanity usually denotes in modern discourse: that is, the infatuation with ones physical appearance. Franklin obviously has something else in mind. So, what do you think he means? Next, how do you think he understands the way vanity can be productive of good, not only to the possessor, but also to people “within his sphere of action?” Finally, how is Franklin’s celebration of vanity, as well as his Autobiography’s celebration of self-making and the pursuit of individual freedom, a product of Enlightenment thinking and indicative of the historical context of the Enlightenment period? Feel free to refer to Franklin’s attitude toward religion and his own ethical system of thought, which he discusses in Part II.
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