Questions About The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

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Answered Questions (4)

Has anyone found a good pdf or (preferably) an epub version of this book? I'd like to read it, but I'm not going to pay any money for it ;) (Which I'd really do if the author is still alive, I'm not a pirate ;)

Bert I got my copy from the Gutenberg Press. They are my go to when I'm looking for older books.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20203

…moreI got my copy from the Gutenberg Press. They are my go to when I'm looking for older books.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20203

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On page 165-166 Franklin mentions that he thought that evil could not exist because "the attributes of God, his infinite wisdom, goodness and power, concluded that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world" and that "actions" are bad in there "own natures." It seems Franklin is positing the their is an exception to God's "infinite" power. Evil exist outside God's power and therefore God's power becomes finite.Rite?

Derek You quoted the first part of the paragraph, but forgot the second part where he basically says that he no longer believes that. He grew to believe the…moreYou quoted the first part of the paragraph, but forgot the second part where he basically says that he no longer believes that. He grew to believe the argument was "not so clever" and that there was some hidden error in his reasoning. (Especially after he witnessed himself and other free-thinkers acting immorally.)

Here's the full quote:
"and from the attributes of God, his infinite wisdom, goodness and power, concluded that nothing could possibly be wrong in the world, and that vice and virtue were empty distinctions, no such things existing, appeared now not so clever a performance as I once thought it; and I doubted whether some error had not insinuated itself unperceived into my argument, so as to infect all that followed, as is common in metaphysical reasonings."(less)

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Is it a difficult read?