Common Sense Philosophy

The Enlightenment, important as it certainly was in the development of modern man and indeed modern philosophy, was by no means a perfect pursuit. It was recognized then and now as “common-sense philosophy” rather than a utopian end-all to the many issues facing our world. Although it is true that Ben Franklin is hardly ever muttered in the same breath as philosophers such as Rousseau, Voltaire, or Locke in terms of his overall contributions to philosophical thought, when it comes to common-sense philosophers, Benjamin Franklin stands out amongst the rest. Franklin was a champion of common sense, and his belief in this democratic faculty of man—that is to say his belief that reason was something common to all men, regardless of their societal status—speaks to his character, and lends color to a truly fascinating portrait of the man himself. Ben Franklin was a man who in many ways was truly unique in his ability to straddle different facets of the society in which he lived. In many ways, Ben was a Renaissance man living in the enlightenment, and for his own sake, this was a good thing. As is pointed out in Paine’s The Age of Reason had Franklin proposed some of the scientific and philosophical tenets that he is now famous for three hundred years earlier, he may very well have found himself burned at the stake. Franklin is a phenomenon insofar as his attitudes and philosophies could only have occurred at the place and time that they did. He was an old man by the time the Revolutionary War occurred, and yet he spoke out against the English with the passion of his younger contemporary patriots. Despite being a part of the aristocracy, Franklin believed, unwaveringly, that enlightened knowledge existed independently of scholastic learning or religious dogmatism, and as such could be achieved by anyone. Today this idea seems inconsequential, even trivial, but when you consider where Franklin speaks from it is quite extraordinary. This is a man who speaks French and is well known in the elite circles of Continental Europe, he is a man who is in constant communication with some of the most important and influential thinkers and scientists of his age, and yet he is also a man who wrote a poor man’s almanac filled with turns of phrase meant to help those in the classes under him to rise to a more prominent stature. Franklin was far from a dogmatist, and in his quest for knowledge, he became a trailblazer, coming from rags to riches, and letting his philosophies and discoveries speak for themselves rather than noble blood or prestigious heritage.