走出迷茫

走出迷茫，寻回丢失的信念——富兰克林给毕业者的13条忠 告 Thirteen Vrtues by Franklin Contents Acknowledgement ............................................................ 错误～未定义签。 Abstract ................................................................................ 错误～未定义书签。 摘要 ........................................................................................ 错误～未定义书签。 Chapter One Introduction ............................................ 错误～未定义书签。 1.1 An Introduction to the Theme ......................................... 错误～未定义书签。 1.2 The Purpose of the Research ........................................... 错误～未定义书签。 Chapter Two Brief Analysis ........................................................................ 2 2.1 Empiricism and Rationalism .......................................................................... 2 2.2 Brief Analysis of the Main Characters ........................................................... 3 Chapter Three The Standard of “Usefulness” and 13 Virtues ....... 4 3.1 The Standard of ―Usefulness‖ ........................................................................ 4 3.1.1 The Standard of "Usefulness" as an Unusual Position and Role ............. 4 3.1.2 Criticisms of Latin Grammar School with ―Usefulness‖ as a Standard .. 4 3.1.3 ―Usefulness‖ and Utilitarianism .............................................................. 5 3.2 The 13 Virtues ................................................................................................ 6 3.2.1 The Analysis of the 13 Virtues ................................................................ 6 Chapter Four Pragmatism ........................................................................... 7 4.1 Definition of ―Pragmatism‖............................................................................ 7 4.2 Pragmatism in Autobiography........................................................................ 8 Chapter Five Background .......................................................................... 10 5.1 The Religious Background---Puritanism...................................................... 10 5.2 The Historical Background........................................................................... 10 5.3 The Personal Struggle................................................................................... 11 5.4 The Social Background ................................................................................ 12 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 13 Reference .......................................................................................................... 15 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, whose expertise, understanding, and patience, added considerably to my graduate experience. I appreciate her vast knowledge and skills in many areas and her assistance in writing this thesis. Without her prudent proofreading, expert comments and above all generous understanding, I would not have been able to accomplish this thesis. It has been a privilege and great joy to study under her supervision during the one-year thesis writing. My special gratitude also goes to associate Professor Y, whose academic writing course has bestowed me with a foundation on academic writing and enlightened me with the right way of making research, and associate Professor X, whose comprehensive English course has expanded my horizon and given me great inspirations in writing this thesis. I would also like to thank all of my other teachers, all of my classmates for their care and help during the past three years of my graduate study. I must also acknowledge my family for the support they provided me through my university life, and without their love and encouragement, I would not have finished this thesis. i Abstract Benjamin Franklin is a well-known thinker, a statesman, a diplomat, a scientist, and an industrialist, who goes down in history not only as the founder of the United States, but also as a man of glorious humanity. Autobiography is a fantastic book which inspired generations after generations of people. It contains the penetrating judgments of the struggle and successes of life and the true theory of morals of good and beauty, which changed the fate of countless people. In Autobiography, usefulness is the criteria of measurement for everything, promoting individual efforts guided by utilitarian thoughts. Franklin expressed his plain views on the ethics in the new world in Autobiography. He believed virtues are the key to achieve individuality, as well as social happiness. The thirteen virtues derived from Puritan teachings in the Autobiography are respectively: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, chastity, and humility. Not only did he promote these virtues to others, persuading them to keep from bad habits, improve their quality of life, and achieve self-improvement, but he also practiced them himself. He made himself a plan with a thirteen-week circulation to perfect his own virtues. Such standards of ―usefulness‖ and egocentric progress of life reflect thoughts of pragmatism. Franklin’s pragmatic spirit contains a kind of secular wisdom and shares profound cultural and historical elements. Originated from his religious belief and the request of real life, it then developed with the support of the rising-up bourgeoisie. It soon became one of the major trends of thought in America and created a prerequisite for the birth of unique American pragmatism. Nowadays, it extends a far-reaching influence to American literature. 【Key words】:Franklin, autobiography, pragmatism, usefulness, virtues ii 摘 要 本杰明?富兰克林是美国著名的思想家、政治家、外交家和科学家、实业家。他不仅是美利坚合众国的缔造者之一，更因其光辉的人性而名垂史册。《富兰克林自传》是一部启发了一代又一代的励志奇书。它包含了人生奋斗与成功的真知灼见，以及善与美的道德真谛，被认为改变了无数人的命运。在《富兰克林自传》中，实用性是衡量一切的，富兰克林提倡以功利思想为指导的个人努力。富兰克林对于新世界的道德操守有着自己朴素的看法，在他看来美德是实现个人与社会幸福的关键所在。他在书中介绍了从清教的教诲中引出的13 点美德，即节制、安静、秩序、决心、节俭、勤奋、诚实、正直、中庸、整洁、贞静、谦恭。他不仅劝导别人遵循这些美德，远离陋习，提高生活品位，实现自我完善，并且为自己制定了一个以13 周为周期的进行逐个操练，以完善自己的道德修养。这种以“有用”为标准和以个人为中心的奋斗过程反映了实用主义的精神。富兰克林的实用精神包含着一种世俗的智慧，并有着深厚历史文化背景。他的这种精神因现实的要求、宗教的影响而产生,又因资本主义上升时期的资产阶级的支持而得以发展,因此成为主导美国的思想潮流之一，为美国实用主义的产生的创造了条件，对后世的美国文学产生了深远的影响。 【关键词】:富兰克林，自传，实用主义，有用性，美德 iii Chapter One: Introduction 1.1 An Introduction to the Theme Henry Commager, an American scholar, once claimed that Americans hated theory and abstract thoughts. They rejected those profound political and practical philosophies as healthy men rejected medicines. As for philosophers, they preferred Benjamin Franklin more than Jonathan Edwards. On one hand, Americans rejected utilitarianism in religious terms; on the other hand, they were 100% utilitarian. To be more specific, their only philosophy is their belief that usefulness is truth. If they were not like the German and British philosophers who explored those areas of esoteric philosophy, it is because Americans think that there is no need for those areas to be explored, rather their inability to engage in that kind of research. They instinctively believe that only unfortunate and foolish people recourse to that kind of philosophy, but they are not that kind of people. (Commager 8)What Commager said is biased to some degree, but it should indicate to some degree the American philosophy of ―practical namely truth‖, which is vividly demonstrated by Franklin. Franklin's Autobiography promotes a practical, utilitarian philosophy. Despite the fact that the philosophical school of pragmatism was formed in the late 19th century, the individual struggle and pursuit in Franklin’s Autobiography is under the guidance of utilitarian thinking, which expressed a kind of pragmatism a century ago. 1.2 The Purpose of the Research In the history of American culture, the publication of Autobiography is a landmark. Franklin started writing in 1771, and completed it in 1788. Autobiography created a fine tradition of American biography. Since then, autobiography has become a new literary genre. Benjamin Franklin is one of the pioneers of the Enlightenment, as well as a scientist, entrepreneur and leader of the Revolutionary War in America. Franklin’s writings are simple, gentle, moderate, and the words are exact, vivid, and sophisticated. He takes time to discuss his successes and failures just like chatting with others, which 1 has a strong artistic appeal. This paper is intended to explore the Autobiography from a pragmatic point of view. In Autobiography, usefulness is the criteria of measurement for everything, promoting individual efforts guided by utilitarian thoughts. He wrote his autobiography to tell others how to go from poor to rich. Such standards of ―usefulness‖ and egocentric progress of life reflect thoughts of pragmatism. Franklin’s pragmatic spirit shares profound cultural and historical elements. It soon became one of the major trends of thought in America, and created a prerequisite for the birth of unique American pragmatism. Chapter Two: Brief Analysis 2.1 Empiricism and Rationalism As we all know, people feel confident in achieving truth and knowledge in the modern society. However, the views on the ways to obtain them vary from person to person, such as empiricism and rationalism. The empiricism emphasizes the observations, experiments, experiential induction, and the importance of the self-perceptual knowledge and the empirical origins of understanding. The main persons standing for empiricism are Bacon, Locke and Hume. All of them strongly argue that ideas and knowledge come from experience and they stick to this principle. When it comes to rationalism, it is an absolutely different story. It assumes general use of and particular importance in mathematical methods and proposes rational deduction methods, putting more emphasis on the reliability and the origin of rational knowledge. Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz are the main defenders of rationalism. They all insist on the principle that rationality is the only origin of the universal truth and knowledge, which is just opposite of empiricism. Franklin, who is a faithful follower of Bacon, Locke and Hume, firmly argues for empiricism with the guidance in the practice of their own actions. As it were, Franklin became the propagandist and role model for thoughts from Bacon, Newton and Locke. He extracted 2 1the Enlightenment thought that seems most suited to the world he lived. Just as Charles Burgess said, Franklin is a classical Baconian scientist of America. His experiments in electricity and amazing talents on creative work make him a typical example of an old saying, ―knowledge is power‖. His efforts on the new-style stove, bifocalspectacle and 2lighting rod make him a utilitarian and philanthropic Bacon in America. Even Daniel Bell said, "If Jonathan Edwards is a puritan who has a strong Aesthetic consciousness and intuition, Benjamin Franklin is a practical and utilitarian protestant‖. 2.2 Brief Analysis of the Main Character Benjamin Franklin is an outstanding figure in the early history of U.S. He made great achievements not only in literary but also in political and scientific fields. Behind all these great achievements was a strong utilitarian spirit. This spirit could be interpreted as fighting for personal well-being and striving for a successful career through hard work. Some virtues and moral rules are still needed to be observed in the process, but that is because these virtues and moral rules are the tools which help people achieve their goals during their seeking for a successful life. In his opinion, there are no better things than virtues to gain wealth. His pragmatism plays a significant influence on him and his sense of worth in his pursuit of success and is clearly reflected in his literary works. The unique pragmatism derives from the European immigrants’ experience of talking with the problems they face in an entirely new environment, so the spirit is very much American, sharply different from the European-styled philosophy. And it is said Franklin marks the beginning of real American style and his works are the real origin of American literature. 1 Translated from查尔斯?博哲斯. 《美国思想渊源———西方思想与美国观念的形成》P107 2 Translated from丹尼尔?贝尔. 《资本主义文化矛盾》P104 3 Chapter Three: The Standard of “Usefulness” and 13 virtues 3.1 The Standard of “Usefulness” 3.1.1 The Standard of "Usefulness" as an Unusual Position and Role Franklin attached great importance to the practical effect and he evaluated everything with the standard of ―usefulness‖. In Franklin’s opinion, the standard of "usefulness" showed an unusual position and role. Basically, Autobiography was a kind of expression of ―usefulness‖. Franklin, at the outset, had pointed out that he expected younger generations could find suitable methods in his autobiography to imitate and go from poor to rich, from normal to prominent. As an expert on Franklin, P. M. Zall said that Franklin’s purpose is to tell his own life story in a most useful way for others, so he put himself as the object which most people can identify with, and hoped to be imitated as a model. (Lemay 8) Unfortunately, he didn't finish his autobiography according to plan until the end of his life. Autobiography describes that for learning the art of writing, Franklin, in his youth, kept imitating the writing of Bystander by Addison. He rewrote it to poetry, and then rewrote it back to prose over time, so he could exercise his writing progressively. Moreover, he wrote a unique motto to admonish and teach people of the world. 3.1.2 Criticisms of Latin Grammar School with “Usefulness” as a Standard Franklin mentioned Latin grammar school in his autobiography, ―Most of people who have received a good education live in poverty‖. With ―useful‖ as a standard, Franklin made a scathing critique of Latin grammar school. Just like his contemporaries, Franklin realized that Latin school could not meet the educational requirements in the United States. However, the defenders insisted that the most important role of the Latin school is to provide necessary conditions for being social leaders. Franklin evaluated 4 whether the school was really "useful" and he said that any self-styled, useful things must satisfy the needs of that time, while these needs were decided by public desire instead of pedagogue's social status. In fact, Latin grammar school did not offer any help to those modern English learners, nor for those people who looked for economic independence, all which showed Latin grammar school had lost leadership in Europe and appeared useless. At that time, America was just like a blank paper and it needed affordable and actual interests. Except for cheap and rich land and extensive trade and developing industry in America, the most important during that period is that America had innovation, dedication and chances of success. Luxury life was glamorous, but in the United States, what was needed most was to let people know of the utilitarianism virtue and how to get rich. Europe's Latin grammar school was established for moral support of the old society and it had nothing to do with modern society. 3.1.3 “Usefulness” and Utilitarianism In his autobiography, Franklin used ―useful‖ as a standard to measure the promotion of virtues, the training of writing, establishment of schools and even on the choice of the spouse. This is actually a utilitarian approach. A famous critic Stow Persons, said that in the Age of Enlightenment, moral principle was just a typical utilitarian mode. In Poor Richard’s Almanac, Franklin gave a special, joyful and efficient expression for the morality of utilitarianism. (Persons 86) Attaching importance to utilitarianism showed Franklin’s attention to the efficiency and the rational evaluation of all things; he used the moral influence of utilitarianism to evaluate the religious thought and life experience. In a sense, Franklin's ―useful‖ standard contained a wide range of moral concern to the public. However, it became misleading when utilitarianism criticism was considered a potential egotistical, selfish motive and self-interest concern in all options. Many people, such as Bella, the author of Habits of Mind, often equated utilitarianism to egotism. However, according to its philosophical origin in the 19th century and the wide cultural background, utilitarianism is used as a useful standard and transcends egoism and partial interests through caring about interests of all humans. Franklin's useful standard must be 5 based on the question, ―Why it is useful?‖ His answer to this question was always aiming at the interests of the whole society and humans. If touching on the charity virtue and utility thought in 18th century, we can further understand Franklin’s ―useful‖ standard in his autobiography, which was more concerned with personal charity rather than the pursuit of efficiency. 3.2 The 13 virtues 3.2.1 The Analysis of the 13 Virtues Franklin expressed his plain views on the moral standard in the new world in Autobiography. He believed virtues are the key to achieve individual, as well as social happiness. When speaking of ―moral self-improvement‖, Franklin listed thirteen useful virtues. The thirteen virtues derived from Puritan teachings in Autobiography respectively are: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, chastity, humility. He did not only promote these virtues to others but also practiced them himself. He made himself a plan with a thirteen-week circulation to perfect his own virtues. Each week, he practiced one of the thirteen virtues. If he achieved it, he then moved on the next. If he did not, he would keep on practicing until it was achieved. His sincerity for these virtues could be observed from the complex plan he made and his retrospection. Even though the virtues he promoted derived from Puritan belief, Franklin did not mean to prove the correctness of God’s deeds with the Calvinistic values of these virtues. His attitude toward all the virtues and moralities are stained with pragmatism. He practiced his plan to achieve the virtues because he believed they were the motivation for success and of practical meaning to the desire for better life. For example, sincerity is a virtue for it will guarantee one’s credibility. Industry, frugality and other virtues are the same case. Success achieved with these justified means is the only kind of success beyond judgment. The prosperity, Franklin believed, brought along with the realization of individual’s desire for better life is one of the ways to achieve earthly happiness among mankind. And he, for his attitude toward life, has been adored 6 by his descendants. His Autobiography became a book with historic meaning and played a significant influence on a whole historical period. Chapter Four: Pragmatism 4.1 Definition of “Pragmatism” The word ―pragmatism‖ came from Greek; its original meaning is ―act‖ or ―behavior‖. The emergence of pragmatism was influenced by a variety of factors such as Empiricism, Darwinism and Scientific Methodology in Europe. Emerson, the transcendentalist, was the first to come up with the opinions that ―something is good only because it’s useful‖ and that ―what is effective is good‖. Therefore, he is regarded as the forerunner of pragmatism. Charles Peirce presented the core ideas of pragmatism in 1872, and William James first used the concept of ―pragmatism‖ in 1898. Both are perceived as main founders of pragmatism, while John Dewey is the comprehensive successor. Pragmatism highlighted human value, advocated the principle of effect and efficiency, and circulated instrumentalism in practices and behaviors. As a result, most pragmatists paid attention to the decisive influence of self-behavior, action and practice on philosophy. They asserted that one should stand on reality and perceive action as the main approach to effectiveness, the highest goal. For this reason, pragmatism is also called ―the philosophy of practice‖, ―the philosophy of action‖, and ―the philosophy of life‖. Pragmatism was the first homegrown philosophical movement in America, whose emergence and development were closely related to American values and codes of conduct. Henry Commager’s comments are quite representative—―Americans have found happiness in the New World, which enables them to present in their philosophy the benevolence of God and Nature, the validity of human beings’ romantic thoughts and an optimistic explanation of history. They have already achieved freedom, which allows for breaking rules, and advocates democracy and also individualism, which approves experimentation and innovation. They are practical, so their philosophy must make for 7 utilitarianism; their life is smooth, so they must hold the ideas of getting rewards through free will and hard work; they have an inartificial and unpretending character, so their thoughts must avoid delicate, high and deep speculations. (Commager 154) 4.2 Pragmatism in Autobiography Franklin’s pragmatism is obvious in his literary works. In his life, he composed 25 volumes of Poor Richard’s Almanac, an Autobiography and a few essays. In all of these works, he expressed his view that men should be in persistent pursuit of happiness in his entire life. His Poor Richard’s Almanac (1734-1758) collected huge amounts of mottos and aphorisms, some from folk culture and some composed by Franklin himself. These mottos and aphorism, mostly highly humorous, reflect American immigrants’ aspirations, as well as experiences and understandings derived from their daily life. Franklin justified men’s pursuit of wealth. In his views, the desire for a better life is the essential motivation for survival. In 1758, in the preface of the last volume of Poor Richard’s Almanac, Franklin, through the fictional Dad Abraham, told his readers in plain language of the road to success for those men with great aspirations but in a lowly position – a road he himself was on. Franklin claimed the goal of life was to achieve fame and wealth through earthly means; to be wealthy was to improve human society, its spiritual civilization, etc. At the mean time, he agreed that the desire for better life should be considered positive, but he emphasized the desire should not be over exaggerated; otherwise the desire would turn into greed. This desire should be maintained as a reciprocal force to boost virtue and social wealth. It is because Franklin stuck to practical objects that he was able to jocularly ignore the essence of things and focus on the actual effect. Nevertheless, Autobiography also confirms his unbelievably wide range of interests and experiences. ―Franklin is mostly the first Pragmatist in America to foreigners. As a philosophical tradition, pragmatism is more suitable than utilitarianism to this great experimenter of human life.‖ (Barbour 104) Indeed, Franklin continually depicted the agony of high-principled people in Autobiography and pragmatism became a mode that constantly reoccurs in the book. He 8 mentioned several times that he had persuaded Quakers to join in the colonial defense and his pragmatic attitude indicates his wisdom of handling emergencies, commendably 3coordinating lofty ideals with the moral needs of the general society. Vernon Parrington gave his appraise to Franklin, ―His spirit is concerned with the society. He cares nothing about properties or class interests, but the general well-being; he reveals his inborn generosity in his direct concern of all peoples and human conditions, in his faith in improving rather than exploiting the world through talents. In his philosophy of pragmatism, rationality and work are loyal servants of progress.‖ Of course, we should notice that pragmatism came into being as a philosophical school until the later period of the 19th century. Therefore, it’s more appropriate to categorize the pragmatism reflected in Autobiography as a behavioral pattern than as a philosophical thought. The struggle course in Franklin’s Autobiography, standardized by utility and centered on individual, shows a kind of pragmatic spirit. Although it is not acknowledged as a philosophical thought, it undoubtedly serves as a clue of the emergence of pragmatism. A. T. Rubinstein, a literature research expert, holds the view that ―Franklin—pragmatic individualism: his Autobiography provides the brand new America with a democratic, relaxed, pragmatic individualistic model‖. (Rubinstein 16) Daniel Boorstin, a historian, even proclaims Franklin as the origin of pragmatism. Indeed, Autobiography displays a sense of pragmatic individualism. ―It seems that the book assigns everyone a role to play in this world-saving drama, making them pay hard work and shoulder responsibility in activities they themselves regard as effective. It believes that individual could not unconditionally rely on God or Nature to gain comfort, and that one’s success lies in his or her endeavor. It also emphasizes uniqueness rather than yielding, encouraging people to carry his belief into practice.‖ In addition, Franklin’s spirit of pragmatism is filled with adventurous and optimistic molecules. Either running away form home and traveling to Philadelphia early in his life, or competing in the printing industry, negotiating foreign affairs and conducting the lightning experiment, contained certain degrees of risks. But Franklin turned down all safety guarantees and adventured with his virtues and wits, and perseverance and braveness. He also received 3 Translated from沃浓?路易?帕灵顿. 《美国思想史》P159 9 novel and original things in entirely good parts. Even though confronted with dangers and difficulties, surrounded by awful cultural and social environments, he believed firmly in his faith and his capability of mastering his future and fate, accepted the values of democracy, equality and freedom, and exerted all his energies to taking all possible actions to realize these values. Chapter Five: Background 5.1 The Religious Background---Puritanism The spirit of pragmatism, which Franklin has deep respect for, has a deep social historical and cultural background. Puritanism is one of the sources of the practical spirit of Franklin. Although traditional Calvinism has broken the hierarchy system of the European feudal society, encouraging individuals to complete the tasks given by God, which is the so-called "all have roles and responsibilities", however, its determinism makes people caught up in a spirit of fear. So the improved Calvinism helped the North American immigrants regain confidence. That for God to establish a "city upon a hill" encouraged the puritans who regarded themselves as "God's chosen" to work hard. They turned the New World of America which received no modern baptism into their real paradise in a fearless, courageous and positive spirit. The notion of puritan Christian’s vocation about wealth has been breaking the traditional denial attitude to the wealth and entitled the labor a new meaning – a responsibility to God. They selected those who worked hard to be successful as examples of God’s grace, so that immigrants in the New World, who were in the process of developing the accumulation of wealth, could be encouraged. Wealth has become a symbol of the God’s blessing. 5.2 The Historical Background The historical factor of European immigrants’ moving to the New World is another 10 source. As we all know, with the purpose of survival and prosperity, immigrants came to the New World and found this piece of barren land different to the geographical environment and climatic conditions of Europe. North America often suffered from the ravages of hurricanes and the conflicts with local Indians. Thus, they must overcome those harsh environmental conditions on their own. The lack of manpower, the shortage of productions of basic material, the threat of disease and other difficulties that resulted from the traditional division of labor could not continue. Immigrants must multitask when necessary to meet various contingencies. Environment forced them to face reality, and pursue effectiveness in order to solve all the practical problems. "Their response to the various situations is mostly practical. When they find a way to solve the specific problems, they are ecstatic." Because only practical technology can reduce the crisis in real life, respect for practical techniques has become a real requirement for the European immigration for the spontaneous survival of naive and been developed in North America. To build better homes, immigrants could only depend on their own actions and struggle. 5.3 The Personal Struggle In addition, the home environment and personal experiences laid an indelible mark on the form of the practical spirit of Franklin. Franklin was born in Boston in 1706. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler who married twice, and of his seventeen children, Benjamin was the youngest son. Thus, he had to solve the difficult problems of real life in his early years. At the age of 12, he started to serve as an apprentice for his brother. He was doing the printing work in Boston then, but he had inherited his family’s custom of paying attention to learning. After work, he often read a lot of books, training his own critical and argumentative skills. From time to time, he wrote some anonymous papers in his brother's newspaper ―The New England Courant‖. However, he was fed up with his brother’s old-fashioned and rigid arrangements of life. At the age of 17, he went to Philadelphia, determined to make a great career. Nevertheless, his early years were full of confidence and spent on useful studies. Influenced by his education, he believed sharp mind coupled with the accumulation of knowledge could bring a bright future. To 1727, 11 Franklin obtained a considerable number of properties in Philadelphia by engaging in the printing business, which brought his words and ideas to his petty-bourgeois society. But he was not satisfied with the sense of accomplishment the wealth brought about; on the contrary, he was constantly looking for ways to improve himself. Therefore, the young Philadelphia’s businessmen got together to set up a book club, hoping to promote themselves to each other. Besides doing business, the nature of the printing industry bought extensive contacts with the same social, political, legal areas to Franklin as he paved his way to success. In 1743, he proposed to establish the scientific association, which tended to emphasize practical use, researching useful theories from the botany, medicine, mineralogy, to manufacturing. The research was designed to meet the needs of social, actual and material needs, which is a typical example of the sensible spirit of Franklin used in practice. 5.4 The Social Background Society was mature in economy and had greater self-sufficiency. After the Revolutionary War, the integration of the thirteen states laid a solid foundation for capitalistic economy. During the evolution of capitalism, capitalist system needed devoted spirits to seek money badly. It is well-fitting, capitalist attitude toward material wealth. It has a substantial connection with an environment in which economic struggle for survival existed. In this environment, people's commercial and social interests surely determined their opinions and attitudes. Whoever could not adapt to the successful criteria of capitalism would definitely fall down, or at least would not thrive. The Capitalist class accepted Franklin's practical spirit. They treated it as their religious representative and established such opinions during capitalist economic development: Making money is the result of professional virtue and capability as long as one is doing it 4legitimately. It is not so hard to find that virtue and capability is the true meaning of Franklin's values in all his books. Consciously accepting the spirit was the condition in which capitalism continued to exist. The opinion became the creed of the entire nation. 4 Translated from 韦伯 《新伦理与资本主义精神》P27 12 Franklin evaluated people's values by honesty and material success; the opinion typically represented Franklin’s era, in which economic and political power gradually transferred from declining noble ruler to vivid and commercial minded capitalists. Consequently he became the new system spokesman. The American colony age is an era of liberation. Continental European’s old ideological system was shocked and the old knowledge under the new situation gained an unexpected actual usage. People in the new place saw a new future and formed a new American ideological system. American literature is created by new writers for new readers under the guidance of new ideological system. Franklin first provided a positive way of thinking, which emphasized personal struggle and the pursuit of material wealth and welfare. In the next 200 years, constant discussion about the practical spirit appeared in American literature and people tried to analyze the deep meaning of the American nation. For instance, Dreiser's Sister Carrie and Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby both attributed the pursuit of material welfare to the social influence on a person. Franklin's practical spirit and pursuit of material welfare became a part of American literature, inherited by generations of American writers, leaving a profound impact in American literature. Conclusion Henry Commager once commented on the 18th Americans "they are always instrumentalist...when they swear in their own lives, property and sacred honor to be dedicated to the fight for the Declaration of Independence provisions, they are acting in accordance with pragmatism. Every American knows that they have created their own live as a part of the world and make the nature bend to their own will and won the God over." (Commager 138) Indeed, the spirit of pragmatism has been rooted in Franklin and in the minds of these pioneers to guide their actions and continue to expand influence. Literary critic V.W. Brooks who thought the United States at that time had this description: ―In the American intellectual world there are two thoughts hand in hand. On 13 one hand, the sense of transcendent originated with the Puritan religious trends. It became a philosophy of Jonathan Edwards, and after Emerson, resulted in a kind of writing style that the pursuit of major American writers was exquisite and free and natural style, and finally led to a lack of real of contemporary American culture. On the other hand, that kind of mercenary opportunist trend originated with the actual change of Puritan life and became Franklin's philosophy. It produced the tone for our modern business life through the American humorist…‖ Brooks’ words then perhaps could be debated, but the utilitarian philosophy of Franklin’s Autobiography, the spirit of pragmatism, is Franklin’s guidelines of self-struggle. It is under this practical guidance of the spirit that Franklin realized the pursuit of the American Dream. 14 Reference [1] Barbour, John D. The Conscience of the Autobiographer: Ethical and Religious Dimensions of Autobiography [M]. Hampshire: Macmillan Academic Professional Ltd., 1992 [2] Boorstin, Daniel J. The Image [M]. Atheneum: New York, 1962. [3] Brooks, Van Wyck. America's Coming-of-Age [A]. Three Essays on America[C]. New York: E.P.Dutton and Co., 1934. [4] Commager, Henry Steele. The American Mind [M]. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950 [5] Lemay, Leo J A, Zall P M. Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography [C]. New York:Norton, 1986. [6] MacQuade, Donald. Selected Writings of Emerson [C]. 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