Junto

Junto (also: leather apron club ) is a self- education club founded in 1727 by Benjamin Franklin and 12 of his friends. They met every Friday evening and asked questions about morality, politics and physics, which were then discussed in the group. When they were accepted, applicants had to answer four questions:

• whether they disregarded any of the club members,
• whether they respected other people - regardless of their religion or profession,
• whether a person may be persecuted because of their views or religion and
• whether the applicant loves the truth for its own sake.

The topics discussed during the Junto's meetings ranged from asking why condensation formed over a cold jug to questions like “What makes a person happy?” Or “When a government denies a citizen his rights, he has one Right to resist? ”Every three months everyone had to give a talk on their own manuscript or another preferred topic.

The association existed for 40 years and was one of the origins of the American Philosophical Society .