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watch me validate my procrastination by writing about American Philosophy! although i'm about to have like 10 different blog posts per American Philosopher. first up is Ben Franklin!

ol' Ben Franklin the Deist had a neat list of virtues, are you ready? 13 of them! i have to know them all pretty intimately for my test tomorrow, but also probably for my life tomorrow and every day after. he lists them in order of importance, as in those which are necessary to the others come first.

temperance, in the sense that one must maintain moderation of dining and drinking. don't eat yourself to dullness, eve! don't drink yourself to oblivion! gotta keep a coolness and clarity of mind so's to be constantly vigilant in the pursuit of the other virtues.
silence! to be truly overcome with a deep hunger for knowledge is to keep teeth suckin' to yourself and actually listen. ol' Ben says that one should only really say things that matter, and if you keep the right company, listening will provide way more insight.
order, in the sense of time and space. both of those are integral to Being Human, so if we keep our most intrinsically human traits in order, it is easier to cultivate other, non-a priori faculties. being disorganized leads to a lot of undue stress, and a lot of time gets wasted trying to rectify a lack of order. so true, Ben. so true.
resolution! resolve to perform! perform what you resolve! be steadfast always in what you say you're going to do. don't be a townie loser who says they're moving to bigger and better places to make themselves feel better about staying in the same damn town for their whole life. aw, Rock Hill. you fill me with some unmatched level of despair. i get sick thinking about wasted potential. so being firm in endeavors really helps with the whole vigilance thing.
frugality. waste nothing. yes.
industry. always be doing something useful for yourself. then one's time is never spent poorly and studies and personal projects are executed with the levels of importance that they really deserve.
sincerity. avoid hurtful deceit, both active and passive (hoo boy, passive deceit and i go way back), speak accordingly and honestly and don't hide behind pretensions. this goes for introspection too, fer sure.
justice! don't wrong people. this is hard to avoid in life for a lot of people (by which i mean maybe impossible without some kind of seriously penetrating introspection, as i have learned from the past few months), but if you've got the other virtues down, this one kind of falls in line easily. "easily" is kind of a misnomer, though, since mastering the previous virtues is not so much an easy task.
moderation, insomuch as we must avoid excess of all things. avoiding self-indulgence is super important, B. Franklin, you are so dead on.
cleanliness! it kind of goes with order, but is more specific to one's personal space, extended and hygienic. it eliminates a lot of stress when the kitchen is clean and one's hair smells nice, i guess.
tranquility! i like this one. don't get hyper-distraught about things, especially trivial things (and it's funny how many things are actually trivial in the long run) understand that negative circumstances are inevitable and be OK with that. acceptance and peace are totally key, especially in things like personal relationships, where stuff like forgiveness can't be come by without acceptance OR peace.
chastity. thank goodness he is so cool, because "chastity" gets thrown around so often like so much abstinence education. but he clarifies, saying that one shouldn't get laid unless it's for one of two things: childbearing or health. and i take "health" to mean merely not to go taking sex for granted. if boning is not facilitating a healthy relationship, everything kind of turns this pallid shade of, "what's the point?"
the last one is my favorite:
humility: imitate Jesus and Socrates.

oh Franklin, you are so funny and light-hearted. even in a great list of virtues you can speak tongue-in-cheek.

that's the key to success, says America's favorite polymath!
(well, not my favorite polymath, but he's runner-up)

so get over it.
everyone is both a monster and a saint.
ain't no one's job but your own to understand that.

shit is so much easier to write than it is to practice.

shit is so much easier to wrong than right, who am i kidding.
but hey. Ben Franklin did it. Howard Hughes probably did it, too, although he didn't really have the tranquility thing down what with his OCD.