Benjamin Franklins Autobiography - Essay Example

Benjamin Franklin’s AutobiographyIn Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, he illuminates the phase of his life where there is a division of his mistakes listed as “errata” and the “great errata” (McClure 69). In this phase of his life Benjamin Franklin shows the level of benefit accrual or the lack of it from the “errata” and “great errata” respectively. Most importantly, the “errata” phase of Benjamin Franklin’s life opens a window of understanding morality in the context of his comprehension of morality.

In essence, it is evident from Benjamin’s discourse with his son at the beginning of the autobiography that the errata period of his life was a beneficial period in his life since it was full of life lessons seen from the mistakes he committed. The view of morality therefore in this sense is as a sense of being capable of reviewing one’s life in light of mistakes committed to see how to make them right in the interest of making things better from what they used to be in the past.From Franklin’s expositions of errata, it is clear that every mistake one commits leaves a mark in the life of one, these mistakes are significant determinants of lessons and impressions of the levels of morality of a person, and interestingly there seems to be no clear distinction between right and wrong.

Despite this seemingly blurred line between right and wrong, vice and virtue, the main goal in life of anybody should be the pursuit of perfecting morals from the explicit errors in life. As such therefore, being at a position of continuously doing good to one is the best and surest way of deriving happiness of oneself. Franklin therefore teaches from this exposition of the different phases of errata that it is possible to circumvent the rules of desirable life qualities for the sake of contentment as long as one has a comprehensive understanding one basic life aspect.

Everyone must clearly understand that the only surest means to true contentment and happiness in life is offering service to other people. This assertion forms the core teaching of Franklin’s exposition of errata and great errata.Work CitedMcClure, Christopher S. "Learning From Franklin's Mistakes: Self-Interest Rightly Understood In The Autobiography." The Review Of Politics 1 (2014): 69. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 18 May 2015.