Rationalism vs Romanticism Two Very Different Outlooks on Life
Rationalism: Reliance on reason as the basis for establishment of religious truth. Romanticism: Marked by the imaginative or emotional appeal of what is heroic, adventurous, remote, mysterious, or idealized. When comparing and contrasting the two very different lives of Benjamin Franklin and Washington Irving, one can’t help but notice a drastic variance in the basic morals and outlooks on life that those two men had. Benjamin Franklin’s had a very strong neoclassical spirit and idea that every aspect of life should be attacked with the brain only. It is Washington Irving’s idea of a very individualistic way of living and having one’s heart and imagination do all the work that greatly opposed Franklin’s ideals.