Curated Questions: Conversations Celebrating the Power of Questions! Reviving Benjamin Franklin's Junto: How Questions Built America | Ken Woodward #40
"They were the leather apron crowd, average guys intent on having extraordinary conversations." - Ken Woodward
In this episode of Curated Questions, host Ken Woodward uncovers a forgotten antidote to our fractured discourse: Benjamin Franklin's Junto. In 1727 Philadelphia, a 21-year-old printer gathered tradesmen—the 'leather apron crowd'—for Friday night discussions that would revolutionize American civic life. This wasn't just a social club; it was a systematic experiment in collective wisdom that led to the creation of America's first volunteer fire company, lending library, public hospital, and the University of Pennsylvania.
Ken explores Franklin's 24 carefully crafted questions that transformed ordinary workers into civic leaders, revealing how debates conducted 'without fondness for dispute, or desire of victory' built both personal character and community institutions. Through themes of personal development, community awareness, civic engagement, and mutual support, the Junto proved that structured curiosity could turn individual ambition into collective flourishing.
Drawing from Franklin's original rules, including banning words like 'certainly' and fining members who spoke too definitively, Ken explains how the Junto combined three elements that modern groups often keep separate: personal growth, civic action, and genuine friendship. The episode includes a vulnerable reflection on intellectual loneliness and ends with a direct challenge: Start this Friday. Find three curious people. Ask one of Franklin's questions. See what happens.
Episode Notes
[00:00] Introduction to the Junto
[00:43] Welcome to Curated Questions
[01:04] Setting the Scene: 1727 Philadelphia
[01:22] Meet the Junto Members
[01:57] The Junto's Impact on Society
[04:03] Franklin's Early Life and Influences
[04:55] The Formation of the Junto
[05:16] The Rules of the Junto
[05:35] The Spirit of Inquiry
[06:14] The Power of Language
[06:54] The Playful Side of the Junto
[07:19] The 24 Questions
[08:12] Themes of the Questions
[08:32] Personal and Intellectual Growth
[09:17] Community and Social Awareness
[10:22] Civic Engagement and Justice
[11:26] Mutual Support and Collaboration
[13:30] The Decline of the Junto
[14:49] The Impact on Modern Times
[18:16] Reclaiming the Lost Art of Conversation
[22:25] Final Thoughts and Call to Action
Resources Mentioned
Benjamin Franklin's 24 Junto Questions
Essays to Do Good by Cotton Mather
Library Company of Philadelphia
Hugh Roberts
Questions Asked
What if I told you that one antidote to our fractured discourse was invented in a Philadelphia tavern 300 years ago?
Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?
Do you know of any deserving young beginner lately set up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?
Have you met with anything in the author you last read, remarkable, or suitable to be communicated to the Junto?
What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately observed or heard? of imprudence? of passion? or of any other vice or folly?
What happy effects of temperance? of prudence? of moderation? or of any other virtue?
Have you lately heard of any citizen's thriving well, and by what means?
Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?
Do you know of any fellow citizen, who has lately done a worthy action, deserving praise and imitation, or who has committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?
Have you lately observed any defect in the laws of your country, of which it would be proper to move the legislature an amendment?
Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?
Hath any body attacked your reputation lately? and what can the Junto do towards securing it?
Have you any weighty affair in hand, in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service?
In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of your honourable designs?
What benefits have you lately received from any man not present?
Do you hear what happened?
Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice, and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?
I mean, when's the last time someone asked you a similar question?
When's the last time you felt safe enough to really explore a moral complexity with people who might disagree with you?
So, how do we reclaim this lost art?
How do we rebuild the capacity for productive disagreement in our polarized world?
Have you encountered any information recently that changed how you think about an important issue?
What examples of good citizenship have you witnessed lately that others might want to emulate?
What problems in your community do you think could be solved by people working together?
How has someone outside this group helped you recently, and how might you pay that forward?
What's a question about justice or community well-being that you've been wrestling with that this group might help you think through?
Do you see anything amiss in the present customs or proceedings of our democracy, which might be amended?
The only question is: are we brave enough to try it?
What questions will you bring to your own Junto?