Blog #3

This portion of Franklin’s autobiography delves deeper into the perspective of one of the greatest minds of his time towards scientific virtues. These chapters invite readers to further explore how Franklin’s life experiences shaped the formation of his personal values. In hindsight, it is significant to explore these virtues as it illustrates the earliest times where philosophical thought became intertwined with empirical science. Franklin is particularly interesting as his autobiography explores the inner workings of establishing and maintaining his own virtues. Within these chapters, I found it fascinating that by establishing such scientific virtues, he altered his entire lifestyle to mirror his beliefs; in doing so, he adopted an entirely different attitude and approach towards topics. Within in his use of language, he changed his declarations of certainty to ones that invite a bit of doubt; in altering his terminology, I believe that Franklin successfully intertwined the factual side of science with dynamic philosophical thought, thus achieved his virtues. Although his name defines success to the highest degree, this autobiography depicts a humbler individual, one who strived to maintain enlightenment on an individual level. As Franklin notes, by successfully reevaluating his actions, he was able to explore his faults and perfect his virtuous path.

This process of self-discovery is something that I believe is a necessity for every scientist to explore as it allows one to reflect and understand the qualities that make up a good scientist. As exemplified by Franklin, his self-critiquing and reflection allowed him to not only alter his mindset, but by recognizing his faults, was able to better himself as both a human and a scientist. However, in current times I strongly believe that it is essential to dive deeper into the idea of what qualities define science, and in turn, the scientists that make up the field. By humanizing scientists, Franklin’s autobiography enforces the idea that despite the circumstances, it is the duty of scientific minds to redefine science for themselves. Current science is corrupted to some degree by outside factors that alter scientific developments, so it is impossible to uphold these values wholeheartedly. Furthermore, the purpose of this autobiography is to not only delve deeper into the life of one individual, but to highlight the importance of humanizing scientists and their individual journeys towards their virtues.