Bibliographic Information
- Other Title
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- ベンジャミン フランクリン ノ セゾク シュギ ト ヒ セゾク シュギ アメリカ ニ オケル キンダイテキ ブンカ シソウ ノ キゲン
- The "Secularism"and "Non-Secularism"of Benjamin Franklin : One Origin of American Modern Cultural Thought
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Abstract
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) is a figure who lived in a transitional period from the Age of Absolutism to the Modern Times. He was an accomplished businessman, a politician, a journalist, a scientist, an educator, a philosopher, and a social activist and achieved distinguished results in various fields. The aim of this paper is to consider how American cultural thought has been formed through Franklin's activities in the 18th century. On the one hand, he advocated "the way to wealth," on the other hand he "preached" the importance of Puritan virtue. How were his "secularism" and "non-secularism," which were inherent to Franklin's thought, kept in order within himself? That is, were these two elements contradicted within himself, or were they paradoxically matched within himself? One comes to the following conclusion after considering Franklin's works : his ideal way of life as a "virtuous, free, good man" is implicitly consistent with the ideal of "the pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration of Independence. Franklin's real way of life, however, shows that "the pursuit of happiness" was intended not only for an individual like himself but for all men. Accordingly, his thought and activities were based upon these two elements which seemed to contradict each other but were paradoxically matched, which attests that Franklin was one of the first modern men in America.
identifier:13
identifier:KJ00005595619
Journal
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- 駒沢女子大学研究紀要 = The faculty journal of Komazawa Women's University
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駒沢女子大学研究紀要 = The faculty journal of Komazawa Women's University 13 189-203, 2006-12-24
稲城 : 駒沢女子大学
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Details 詳細情報について
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- CRID
- 1050845763137732224
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- NII Article ID
- 110007318604
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- NII Book ID
- AN10460219
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- ISSN
- 13408631
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- NDL BIB ID
- 8883049
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- Text Lang
- ja
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- Article Type
- departmental bulletin paper
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- Data Source
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- IRDB
- NDL
- CiNii Articles