A Dissertation On Liberty And Necessity, Pleasure And Pain by Benjamin Franklin Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Start by marking “A Dissertation On Liberty And Necessity, Pleasure And Pain” as Want to Read/5 Jan 01, · A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. London: Printed in the Year MDCCXXV. (Yale University Library) As a journeyman in Samuel Palmer’s printing house in Bartholomew’s Close Franklin worked on the third edition of William Wollaston’s The Religion of Nature Delineated. 6 Some of the author’s arguments “not appearing well-founded,” he composed “a A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain is a philosophical pamphlet by Benjamin Franklin, published in London in in response to The Religion of Nature Delineated. Contents. References; See also; External links; It argues that an omnipotent, benevolent God is incompatible with notions of human free will and morality
A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain - Wikipedia
This is Benjamin Franklin's first political a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary. It argues that humans are not morally responsible for their choices if God is all powerful because if He is all powerful and controlling, He is responsible for the acts of humans when they do evil things.
Franklin wrote this at a time when he was a young man in London and possibly engaging in things that he knew were wrong, so this pamphlet may have been written to justify his own behavior at the time. Later as an adult, Ben Franklin repudiated what he wrote here and burned whatever copies he had left.
Whatever is, is in its Causes just Since all Things are by Fate; but purblind Man Sees but a part o' th' Chain, the nearest Link, His Eyes not carrying to the equal Beam That poises all above. I have here, according to your Request, given you my present Thoughts of the general State of Things in the Universe.
Such as they are, you have them, and are welcome to 'em; and if they yield you any Pleasure or Satisfaction, I shall think my Trouble sufficiently compensated.
I know my Scheme will be liable to many Objections from a less discerning Reader than your self; but it is not design'd for those who can't understand it. I need not give you any Caution to distinguish the hypothetical Parts of the Argument from the conclusive: You will easily perceive what I design for Demonstration, and what for Probability only. The whole I leave entirely to you, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary, and shall value my self more or less on this account, in proportion to your Esteem and Approbation.
These two Propositions being allow'd and asserted by People of almost every Sect and Opinion; I have here suppos'd them granted, and laid them down as the Foundation of my Argument; What follows then, being a Chain of Consequences truly drawn from them, will stand or fall as they are true or false.
The Truth of these Propositions, with relation to the two first, I think may be justly call'd evident; since, either that infinite Goodness will act what is ill, or infinite Wisdom what is not wise, is too glaring a Contradiction not to be perceiv'd by any Man of common Sense, and deny'd as soon as understood.
If He is all-powerful, there can be nothing either existing or acting in the Universe against or without his Consent; and what He consents to must be good, because A dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary is good; therefore Evil doth not exist.
Unde Malum? has been long a Question, and many of the Learned have perplex'd themselves and Readers to little Purpose in Answer to it. but that these and the like are not in reality Evils, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary, Ills, or Defects in the Order of the Universe, is demonstrated in the next Section, as well as by this and the following Proposition. Indeed, to suppose any Thing to exist or be done, contrary to the Will of the Almighty, is to suppose him not almighty; or that Something the Cause of Evil is more mighty than the Almighty; an Inconsistence that I think no One will defend: And to deny any Thing or Action, which he consents to the existence of, to be good, is entirely to destroy his two Attributes of Wisdom and Goodness.
There is nothing done in the Universe, say the Philosophers, but what God either does, or permits to be done. This, as He is Almighty, is certainly true: But what need of this Distinction between doing and permitting?
Why, first they take it for granted that many Things in the Universe exist in such a Manner as is not for the best, and that many Actions are done which ought not to be done, or would be better undone; these Things or Actions they cannot ascribe to God as His, because they have already attributed to Him infinite Wisdom and Goodness; Here then is the Use of the Word Permit; He permits them to be done, say they. But we will reason thus: If God permits an Action to be done, it is because he wants either Power or Inclination to hinder it; in saying he wants Power, we deny Him to be almighty; and if we say Hewants Inclination or Will, it must be, either because He is not Good, or the Action is not evil, for all Evil is contrary to the Essence of infinite Goodness, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary.
The former is inconsistent with his before-given Attribute of Goodness, therefore the latter must be true. It will be said, perhaps, that God permits evil Actions to be done, for wise Ends and Purposes. But this Objection destroys itself; for whatever an infinitely good God hath wise Ends in suffering to be, must be good, is thereby made good, and cannot be otherwise.
If a Creature is made by God, it must depend upon God, and receive all its Power from Him; with which Power the Creature can do nothing contrary to the Will of God, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary, because God is Almighty; what is not contrary to His Will, must be agreeable to it; what is agreeable to it, must be good, because He is Good; therefore a Creature can do nothing but what is good.
This Proposition is much to the same Purpose with the former, but more particular; and its Conclusion is as just and evident. Tho' a Creature may do many Actions which by his Fellow Creatures will be nam'd Evil, and which will naturally and necessarily cause or bring upon the Doer, certain Pains which will likewise be call'd Punishments; yet this Proposition proves, that he cannot act what will be in itself really Ill, or displeasing to God.
And that the painful Consequences of his evil Actions so call'd are not, as indeed they ought not to be, Punishments or Unhappinesses, will be shewn hereafter. Thus if A steals a Horse from B, and rides away upon him, he uses him not as what he is in Truth, viz. the Property of another, but as his own, which is contrary to Truth, and therefore evil".
But, as this Gentleman himself says, Sect. This is Truth likewise, and A acts according to it when he steals the Horse. Besides, if it is prov'd to be a Truth, that A has not Power over his own Actions, it will be indisputable that he acts according to Truth, and impossible he should do otherwise. I would not be understood by this to encourage or defend Theft; 'tis only for the sake of the Argument, and will certainly have no ill Effect.
The Order and Course of Things will not be affected by Reasoning of this Kind; and 'tis as just and necessary, and as much according to Truth, for B to dislike and punish the Theft of his Horse, as it is for A to steal him.
If the Creature is thus limited in his Actions, being able to do only such Things as God would have him to do, and not being able to refuse doing what God would have done; then he can have no such Thing as Liberty, Free-will or Power to do or refrain an Action. By Liberty is sometimes understood the Absence of Opposition; and in this Sense, indeed, all our Actions may be said to be the Effects of our Liberty: But it is a Liberty of the same Nature with the Fall of a heavy Body to the Ground; it has Liberty to fall, that is, it meets with nothing to hinder its Fall, but at the same Time it is necessitated to fall, and has no Power or Liberty to remain suspended.
But let us take the Argument in another View, and suppose ourselves to be, in the common sense of the Word, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary, Free Agents.
As Man is a Part of this great Machine, the Universe, his regular Acting is requisite to the regular moving of the whole, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary. Among the many Things which lie before him to be done, he may, as he is at Liberty and his Choice influenc'd by nothing, for so it must be, or he is not at Liberty chuse any one, and refuse the rest.
Now there is every Moment something best to be done, which is alone then good, and with respect to which, every Thing else is at that Time evil. In order to know which is best to be done, and which not, it is requisite that we should have at one View all the intricate Consequences of every Action with respect to the general Order and Scheme of the Universe, both present and future; but they are innumerable and incomprehensible by any Thing but Omniscience.
As we cannot know these, we have but as one Chance to ten thousand, to hit on the right Action; we should then be perpetually blundering about in the Dark, and putting the Scheme in Disorder; for every wrong Action of a Part, is a Defect or Blemish in the Order of the Whole. Is it not necessary then, that our Actions should be over-rul'd and govern'd by an all-wise Providence?
How wisely in every Part contriv'd! We cannot here find the least Defect! Those who have study'd the mere animal and vegetable Creation, demonstrate that nothing can be more harmonious and beautiful!
All the heavenly Bodies, the Stars and Planets, are regulated with the utmost Wisdom! And can we suppose less Care to be taken in the Order of the moral than in the natural System? It is as if an ingenious Artificer, having fram'd a curious Machine or Clock, and put its many intricate Wheels and Powers in such a Dependance on one another, that the whole might move in the most exact Order and Regularity, had nevertheless plac'd in it several other Wheels endu'd with an independent Self-Motion, but ignorant of the general Interest of the Clock; and these would every now and then be moving wrong, disordering the true Movement, and making continual Work for the Mender; which might better be prevented, by depriving them of that Power of Self-Motion, and placing them in a Dependance on the regular Part of the Clock.
If there is no such Thing as Free-Will in Creatures, there can be neither Merit nor Demerit in Creatures. These Propositions appear to be the necessary Consequences of the former.
And certainly no Reason can be given, why the Creator should prefer in his Esteem one Part of His Works to another, if with equal Wisdom and Goodness he design'd and created them all, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary all Ill or Defect, as contrary to his Nature, is excluded by his Power.
We will sum up the Argument thus, When the Creator first design'd the Universe, either it was His Will and Intention that all Things should exist and be in the Manner they are at this Time; or it was his Will they should be otherwise i. in a different Manner: To say it was His Will Things should be otherwise than they are, is to say Somewhat hath contradicted His Will, and broken His Measures, which is impossible because inconsistent with his Power; therefore we must allow that all Things exist now in a Manner agreeable to His Will, and in consequence of that are all equally Good, and therefore equally esteem'd by Him.
I proceed now a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary shew, that as all the Works of the Creator are equally esteem'd by Him, so they are, as in Justice they ought to be, equally us'd. When a Creature is form'd and endu'd with Life, 'tis suppos'd to receive a Capacity of the Sensation of Uneasiness or Pain. It is this distinguishes Life and Consciousness from unactive a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary Matter. To know or be sensible of Suffering or being acted upon is to live; and whatsoever is not so, among created Things, is properly and truly dead.
All Pain and Uneasiness proceeds at first from and is caus'd by Somewhat without and distinct from the Mind itself. The Soul must first be acted upon before it can re-act. In the Beginning of Infancy it is as if it were not; it is not conscious of its own Existence, till it has receiv'd the first Sensation of Pain; then, and not before, it begins to feel itself, is rous'd, and put into Action; then it discovers its Powers and Faculties, and exerts them to expel the Uneasiness.
Thus is the Machine set on work; this is Life. We are first mov'd by Pain, and the whole succeeding Course of our Lives is but one continu'd Series of Action with a View to be freed from it.
As fast as we have excluded one Uneasiness another appears, otherwise the Motion would cease. If a continual Weight is not apply'd, the Clock will stop. And as soon as the Avenues of Uneasiness to the Soul are choak'd up or cut off, we are dead, we think and act no more. This Uneasiness, whenever felt, produces Desire to be freed from it, great in exact proportion to the Uneasiness.
Thus is Uneasiness the first Spring and Cause of all Action; for till we are uneasy in Rest, we can have no Desire to move, and without Desire of moving there can be no voluntary Motion. The Experience of every Man who has observ'd his own Actions will evince the Truth of this; and I think nothing need be said to prove that the Desire will be equal to the Uneasiness, for the very Thing implies as much: It is not Uneasiness unless we desire to be freed from it, nor a great Uneasiness unless the consequent Desire is great.
I might here observe, how necessary a Thing in the Order and Design of a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary Universe this Pain or Uneasiness is, and how beautiful in its Place! Let us but suppose it just now banish'd the World entirely, and consider the Consequence of it: All the Animal Creation would immediately stand stock still, exactly in the Posture they were in the Moment Uneasiness departed; not a Limb, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary, not a Finger would henceforth move; we should all be reduc'd to the Condition of Statues, dull and unactive: Here I should continue to sit motionless with the Pen in my Hand thus and neither leave my Seat nor write one Letter more.
This may appear odd at first View, but a little Consideration will make it evident; for 'tis impossible to assign any other Cause for the voluntary Motion of an Animal than its uneasiness in Rest. What a different Appearance then would the Face of Nature make, without it! How necessary is it! And how unlikely that the Inhabitants of the World ever were, or that the Creator ever design'd they should be, exempt from it! I would likewise observe here, that the VIIIth Proposition in the preceding Section, viz.
is here again demonstrated, as infallibly, tho' in another manner: For since Freedom from Uneasiness is the End of all our Actions, how is it possible for us to do any Thing disinterested? In the Design or End of it, tho' not in the Manner: The first is requisite, the latter not. To exemplify this, let us make a Supposition; A Person is confin'd in a House which appears to be in imminent Danger of Falling, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary, this, as soon as perceiv'd, creates a violent Uneasiness, and that instantly produces an equal strong Desire, the End of which is freedom from the Uneasiness, and the Manner or Way propos'd to gain this End, is to get out of the House.
Now if he is convinc'd by any Means, that he is mistaken, and the House is not likely to fall, he is immediately freed from his Uneasiness, and the End of his Desire is attain'd as well as if it had been in the Manner desir'd, viz. leaving the House. All our different Desires and Passions proceed from and are reducible to this one Point, Uneasiness, tho' the Means we propose to ourselves for expelling of it are infinite.
as the Means to gain this End; but tho' these are never attain'd, if the Uneasiness be remov'd by some other Means, the Desire is satisfy'd. Now during the Course of Life we are ourselves continually removing successive Uneasinesses as they arise, and the last we suffer is remov'd by the sweet Sleep of Death. The fulfilling or Satisfaction of this Desire, produces the Sensation of Pleasure, great or small a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary exact proportion to the Desire.
Pleasure is that Satisfaction which arises in the Mind upon, and is caus'd by, the accomplishment of our Desires, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary, and by no other Means at all; and those Desires being above shewn to be caus'd by our Pains or Uneasinesses, it follows that Pleasure is wholly caus'd by Pain, and by no other Thing at all.
Therefore the Sensation of Pleasure is equal, or in exact proportion to the Sensation of Pain. As the Desire of being freed from Uneasiness is equal to the Uneasiness, and the Pleasure of satisfying that Desire equal to the Desire, the Pleasure thereby produc'd must necessarily be equal to the Uneasiness or Pain which produces it: Of three Lines, A, B, and C, if A is equal to B, and B to C, C must be equal to A.
And as our Uneasinesses are always remov'd by some Means or other, it follows that Pleasure and Pain are in their Nature inseparable: So many Degrees as one Scale of the Ballance descends, so many exactly the other ascends; and one cannot rise or fall without the Fall or Rise of the other: 'Tis impossible to taste of Pleasure, without feeling its preceding proportionate Pain; or to be sensible of Pain, without having its necessary Consequent Pleasure: The highest Pleasure is only Consciousness of Freedom from the deepest Pain, and Pain is not Pain to us unless we ourselves are sensible of it.
They go Hand in Hand; they cannot be divided. You have a View of the whole Argument in a few familiar Examples: The Pain of Abstinence from Food, as it is greater or less, produces a greater or less Desire of Eating, the Accomplishment of this Desire produces a greater or less Pleasure proportionate to it. The Pain of Confinement causes the Desire of Liberty, which accomplish'd, yields a Pleasure equal to that Pain of Confinement.
The Pain of Labour and Fatigue causes the Pleasure of Rest, equal to that Pain. The Pain of Absence from Friends, produces the Pleasure of Meeting in exact proportion. This is the fixt Nature of Pleasure and Pain, and will always be found to be so by those who examine it. One of the most common Arguments for the future Existence of the Soul, is taken from the generally suppos'd Inequality of Pain and Pleasure in the present; and this, notwithstanding the Difficulty by outward Appearances to make a Judgment of another's Happiness, has been look'd upon as almost unanswerable: but since Pain naturally and infallibly produces a Pleasure in proportion to it, every individual Creature must, in any State of Life, have an equal Quantity of each, so that there is not, on that Account, any Occasion for a future Adjustment, a dissertation on liberty and necessity pleasure and pain summary.
Thus are all the Works of the Creator equally us'd by him; And no Condition of Life or Being is in itself better or preferable to another: The Monarch is not more happy than the Slave, nor the Beggar more miserable than Croesus. Suppose A, B, and C, three distinct Beings; A and B, animate, capable of Pleasure and Pain, C an inanimate Piece of Matter, insensible of either.
Бенджамин Франклин, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. [Audiobook]
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A Dissertation On Liberty And Necessity, Pleasure And Pain by Benjamin Franklin Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Start by marking “A Dissertation On Liberty And Necessity, Pleasure And Pain” as Want to Read/5 A Dissertation on Liberty & Necessity, Pleasure & Pain. by Benjamin Franklin - Benjamin Franklin. This is Benjamin Franklin's first political pamphlet. It argues that humans are not morally responsible for their choices if God is all powerful because if He is all powerful and controlling, He is responsible for the acts of humans when they do evil things Jan 01, · A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain. London: Printed in the Year MDCCXXV. (Yale University Library) As a journeyman in Samuel Palmer’s printing house in Bartholomew’s Close Franklin worked on the third edition of William Wollaston’s The Religion of Nature Delineated. 6 Some of the author’s arguments “not appearing well-founded,” he composed “a
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