Here another aspect of the modern appreciation of the Socratic method comes to light. Franklin found
that a“positive, assuming”and“dogmatical”manner is bad for business. American colonists do not
like“assuming manner[s]”and“dogmatical”assertion. The Socratic style–or at least Franklin’s
version of it–is unpretentious, plain, and easy-going. These are essential virtues in Franklin’s
America for“doing good.”
The extent to which Franklin renovated Socrates’image for a practical country devoted to liberty,
can be further illustrated by reference to Franklin’s“Project for Moral Perfection.”Incidentally, it is
the only other mention of Socrates in theAutobiography.In explaining his project, Franklin
describes a“method”for instilling virtue that is–despite Franklin’s earlier imitation of Socrates–
almost entirely incompatible with the Socratic philosophizing.^13 Franklin starts by confiding in his
reader that he finds little or nothing puzzling or complicated about morality and justice,“right and
wrong.”Franklin’s“speculative conviction”is that it is“in our interest to be completely virtuous.”
The problem with virtue, in other words, has little to do with abstract philosophical analysis, let
alone, rigorous logical consistency. The problem of virtue has little to do with the question of what it
is or whether it is good, but rather how to succeed–establishing clubs, founding fire companies,
inventing stoves–in doing good.
As is apparent from the above, Franklin’s project for moral perfection is not built around the
ideals of a life devoted to questioning, endless definition testing, and moral confusion. Franklin lists
the virtues first, then asks questions about how to obtain them. Indeed, Franklin’s famous catalog of
the virtues contains a handy reference guide, for definitional precision. Franklin will annex to each a
“short precept”that would leave little room for disputation.^14
Franklin’s reduction of moral perfection to a tidy list of non-ambiguous moral rules is perfectly
Franklinian but also anti-Socratic. First, the list is designed to allow anyone to cultivate virtue. It is
within every human being’s reach to develop the qualities of temperance, silence, order, resolution,
frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility.
Moreover, these are evidently practical virtues. The goal is not to prepare the soul for a spiritual
journey into the dark corners of self-knowledge. The goal is self-advancement in the world. And
that world is liberal and egalitarian. Socratic humility may be imitated, in other words, but not
Socrates’life, and certainly not the philosophical method in its traditional form.^15
Whatever else can be said about Franklin’s demotion of the noble virtues, Franklin’s project
does capture an underlying truth, important for understanding the early republic’s hostility to
Socratic philosophy. The viability of the new colonies would depend on the development of
qualities of character that would put the colonies in a position to be economically, if not politically,
self-sufficient. The virtues associated with economic self-reliance require discipline, but they do
not require unnecessary self-sacrifice. And perhaps more importantly, they are not difficult to
comprehend.^16
Whereas Franklin’s project for moral perfection does not capture Franklin’s full views on
education or his full moral teaching,^17 and while it would be fair to debate Franklin’s impact on
America’s educational system, we can make a few general conclusions. First, Franklin articulated
an ideal of self-learning or“self-education”that helped point the way to a broader educational
revolution away from the traditional methods of lecture, rote memorization, and religious
instruction, which dominated the European schools, medieval universities, and the Puritan worship
service. The new education in the early national period did in fact shift focus to the acquisition of
practical wisdom gained through self-education (one can think here of Franklin’s Junto, or his
founding of the first public library in America in 1731, chartered in 1742 as the Philadelphia
Library).^18
If Franklin is right, the Socratic method could be preserved in the American educational system
only by abandoning the possibility that the exercise might lead to deep ignorance, and therefore,
true self-knowledge. This is largely the story of American law schools. In the following section, we
will continue exploring the Americanization of Socrates by turning to the other major figure of the
The Americanization of the Socratic Method 75