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Phil 1001 Franklin  Virtues Assignment # 9  1Philosophy 1101   Jim SchaarAssignment # 9Check syllabus for due date.As you will see, this assignment requires a 7 day period of self evaluation.  Students should be sure to begin the assignment far enough ahead of the due date to ensure it can be completed on time. Purpose of AssignmentIn recent years, the idea of learning about and developing virtues in people's lives has resurfaced among philosophers and ethicists as a viable means for cultivating ethical behavior in individuals and in society.  This assignment will be part of our exploration of that idea.Assignment detailPart OneRead the excerpt provided from Ben Franklin’s auto-biography. (copied below)  Print out the excerpt and be prepared to discuss the reading in class.  Part Two1. Honesty, for example, is considered a virtue.   What is a virtue?  Write a definition of what a virtue is. 2. List ten virtues you think most important for a person to have in their life to live ethically or morally and give a definition for each.   At the end of each definition, rate yourself on how strong that virtue is in your life.  Weak-1, Fair- 2, Good- 3, Strong- 4 3. Aristotle said virtues are manifested in a person's life in habitual action.  What did he mean by that?  Find out and write a  paragraph summarizing his thought on the subject using one of the virtues you listed as an example to show why his idea would be important.  Part Three1. For a 7 day time period, keep a journal, to be turned in,  in which for each day you write a paragraph describing, with specific examples, how you succeeded or failed to practice one of the 10 virtues on your list that day.   (A paragraph should be at least three sentences) 2. Go back to your list of 10 virtues.  Now that you have observed yourself in action for 7 days, rate each virtue in your own life again, according to the same scale used in part two #2. Part Four Write a paragraph or two of reflections regarding your virtue evaluation experience relating it to Franklin’s experience.  Was your experience similar in any way to Franklin’s or not?  What other reflections did you have regarding Franklin’s story? Excerpt from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Phil 1001 Franklin  Virtues Assignment # 9  2It was about this time I conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.  I wish'd to live without committing any fault at any time; I would conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead me into.  As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see why I might not always do the one and avoid the other.  But I soon found had undertaken a task of more difficulty than I had imagined. While my care was employ'd in guarding against one fault, I was often surprised by another; habit took the advantage of inattention; inclination was sometimes too strong for reason.  I concluded, at length that the mere speculative conviction that it was our interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our slipping; and that the contrary habits must be broken, and good ones acquired and established, before we can have any dependence on a steady, uniform rectitude of conduct.  For this purpose I therefore contrived the following method.In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous, as different writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name.  Temperance, for example, was by some confined to eating and drinking, while by others it was extended to mean the moderating every other pleasure, appetite, inclination, or passion, bodily or mental, even to our avarice and ambition.  I propos'd to myself, for the sakeof clearness, to use rather more names, with fewer ideas annex'd to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurr'd to meas necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully express'd the extent I gave to its meaning.These names of virtues, with their precepts, were: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 employ'd 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 extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.10.  CLEANLINESS.  Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.