''A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain'' is a philosophical pamphlet by

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, published in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1725 in response to ''

The Religion of Nature Delineated The ''Religion of Nature Delineated'' is a book by Anglican cleric William Wollaston that describes a system of ethics that can be discerned without recourse to revealed religion. It was first published in 1722, two years before Wollaston's death. ...

''. It argues that an omnipotent, benevolent God is incompatible with notions of human free will and morality. The second portion of the pamphlet goes on to formulate that all motivations are derived from pain and that pain is met with an equal amount of pleasure. He then concludes that this means that man cannot be superior to animals because we are all equal in God's eyes. Franklin acknowledges how offensive this idea would be to the reader, and refuted it later. The point of the pamphlet seems to follow

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

. Franklin was raised Calvinist as a child but in his teenage years became a

Deist Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...

, arguing that Calvinism cannot logically be a moral way to live. In 1779, Franklin came to disagree with the points he printed in ''Dissertation'' and burned all the copies he possessed of the pamphlet but one for historical purposes. However, since he had already come to give several copies to friends of his, four original copies still survive. They are in the possession of the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

John Carter Brown Library The John Carter Brown Library is an independently funded research library of history and the humanities on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The library's rare book, manuscript, and map collections encompass a variety of ...

, and

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new "Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 mill ...

.Franklin, Benjamin, and Leonard Woods Labaree. ''The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin''. 2nd ed., New Haven, Yale UP, 2003. pp. 96

References

External links

Free etext of ''A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain''
1725 books Pamphlets Philosophy of religion literature Ethics literature Works by Benjamin Franklin {{reli-philo-book-stub

See also

References

External links