Benjamin Franklin : $b Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notesFranklin, Benjamin
General
Benjamin Franklin : $b Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notes
Franklin, Benjamin
Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790
[Footnote i-4: E. A. Burtt, _The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern
Physical Science_, 208. Newtonianism as a method and a philosophy has
been ably examined by recent scholars. See, for examples, C. Becker,
_The Declaration of Independence_, especially chap. II, and _The
Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers_; and in
Bibliography, pp. cli ff., below, W. M. Horton (chap. II); C. S. Duncan;
H. Drennon; L. Bloch; E. Halévy. See also Isabel St. John Bliss,
"Young's _Night Thoughts_ in Relation to Contemporary Christian
Apologetics," _Publications of the Modern Language Association_, XLIX,
37-70 (March, 1934); J. H. Randall, _The Making of the Modern Mind_
(Boston, 1926), chap. X ff.; H. H. Clark, "An Historical Interpretation
of Thomas Paine's Religion," _University of California Chronicle_, XXXV,
56-87 (Jan., 1933), and "Toward a Reinterpretation of Thomas Paine,"
_American Literature_, V, 133-45 (May, 1933).]
[Footnote i-5: Burtt, _op. cit._ 223.]
[Footnote i-6: Article, "Deism."]
[Footnote i-7: Article, "Nature."]
[Footnote i-8: P. Smith, _A History of Modern Culture_ (New York, 1934),
II, 17-8.]
[Footnote i-9: See S. Hefelbower, _The Relation of John Locke to English
Deism_.]
[Footnote i-10: _Primitivism and the Idea of Progress in English Popular
Literature of the Eighteenth Century_, 168-9: "One inference that might
be drawn from the theory was that while the infant whose mind is a blank
page at birth is not so well off from the primitivistic point of view as
the one who comes into the world already equipped with a complete set of
the laws of nature and a predisposition to obey them, he is infinitely
better off than the infant whose poor little mind had been loaded with
original sin by his remote ancestors. For the orthodox baby, born in
sin, there is almost no hope, except in supernatural aid; but if we
suppose that man's ideas are all derived, as Locke postulated, from
sense-impressions, then we may conclude that all men, rich and poor,
primitive and civilized, are on an equal footing intellectually at
birth. Although the primitive child does not have the help of
civilization in the development of his mind, neither does he have its
superstitions, prejudices, and corrupting influences; and he might
actually be better off than the product of civilization--at least so
many a primitivist argued. But one might draw another inference from the
_tabula rasa_ theory. Men, however corrupt they are now, may still have
a chance of regeneration if their mind is really like blank paper at
birth." For eighteenth-century primitivism see also H. N. Fairchild,
_The Noble Savage_ (New York, 1928).]
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