How Did Benjamin Franklin Contribute To Self Improvement

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Benjamin Franklin Jason M Walter HIUS / 221 4/3/2011 Professor Long Benjamin Franklin, without doubt is a remarkable person in American history. What makes him such an icon of history is his passion to influence those around him. "Perhaps the most interesting and potentially useful part of Franklin's autobiography is his description of his self improvement project" (Murphy 2009). Benjamin Franklin made it a point to understand his weaknesses as well as the weaknesses of people he witnessed by their failures. He also had a clear goal of observing habits that led to success. By taking time to study himself as well as those around him, he was able to focus on self improvement. By doing so, he became a model for all, including both the poor and wealthy. "Franklin's entire life reflected his belief in self-improvement, and from adolescence until his death at eighty-four, he worked constantly to improve his mind, his body, and his behavior" (PBS 2002). Benjamin Franklin was Born in 1706 to a very large family. He quickly learned many personal virtues that were vital to achieving success and improvement of himself. Many traits that were developed included that of integrity, hard work and discipline.…show more content…
He set out to conduct numerous experiments, developing many theories on how he could better the lives of society. "It has been felt by many people over the years that there was no United States inventor as great as Franklin until the time of Thomas A. Edison" (Blow 24). Benjamin Franklin considered his efforts to be a part of "his civic duties" (Franklin). He states his attitude toward his inventions by asking the question, "What signifies Philosophy that does not apply to some use?" (Fleming 21). The most important concepts of his experiments were the existence of positive and negative electricity, the fluidity of electricized particles and the identity of lightning and electricity (Cohen
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