Franklin, Benjamin (1706-1790)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

In his Autobiography Franklin recounts his youthful experiments with vegetarianism, which he practised inconsistently throughout his life. Elsewhere he acknowledges that animals are sentient, going so far as to attribute conversation to a type of fly (which, however, he flags as emblematic of humanity). However, he reserves any intellectual awareness to humans. His decision to adopt a veg*n diet follows his reading of the work of the early English vegan advocate Thomas Tryon and his attitudes were further conditioned by the influence of Philadelphia Quakers such as John Woolman and Benjamin Lay. Franklin's motivations were based on health and Temperance, economics and frugality, the ethics of avoiding animal suffering, and his principle of utility applied to diet.

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