| 1 Introduction | 第1-18页 |
| ·The scope and purpose of the thesis | 第8-10页 |
| ·Method of the study | 第10页 |
| ·Organization of the thesis | 第10-11页 |
| ·Literature review | 第11-15页 |
| ·Definition of pragmatism and religion | 第15-18页 |
| 2 The sources of Benjamin Franklin’s religious thoughts | 第18-26页 |
| ·Macro environment in the eighteenth-century American context | 第18-23页 |
| ·Social context in general | 第18-19页 |
| ·Puritanism and its innate dissenting | 第19-21页 |
| ·The Enlightenment and Deism | 第21-22页 |
| ·The religious reaction and clashes | 第22-23页 |
| ·Benjamin Franklin’s family and his career | 第23-26页 |
| 3 Benjamin Franklin’s early rebellion to his Puritan heritage | 第26-46页 |
| ·Benjamin Franklin’s early radicalism | 第26-39页 |
| ·Benjamin Franklin’s early skeptic nature | 第26-28页 |
| ·Benjamin Franklin’s radicalism based on metaphysical deduction | 第28-39页 |
| ·The sources of Benjamin Franklin’s ideas in the Dissertation | 第29-30页 |
| ·The cause of the composing of the Dissertation | 第30-31页 |
| ·The argumentations of the Dissertation | 第31-39页 |
| ·Benjamin Franklin’s more temperate religious attitude | 第39-46页 |
| ·Benjamin Franklin’s early religious pluralism | 第40-43页 |
| ·Benjamin Franklin’s inclination to special providence | 第43-46页 |
| 4. Benjamin Franklin’s religious thoughts and the pragmatics spirit | 第46-65页 |
| ·Benjamin Franklin’s Deistic ideas | 第46-55页 |
| ·Deism in general | 第46-52页 |
| ·immortality and afterlife | 第52-53页 |
| ·Sectarianism | 第53-55页 |
| ·Benjamin Franklin’s deviation from Deism | 第55-60页 |
| ·Special providence | 第55-57页 |
| ·Prayer | 第57-59页 |
| ·Defending a Presbyterian preacher | 第59-60页 |
| ·Benjamin Franklin’s experimental approach to religion | 第60-65页 |
| ·Experimental approach to natural things | 第61-62页 |
| ·Experimental approach to institutions | 第62-63页 |
| ·Experimental approach to people | 第63-65页 |
| 5 Conclusion | 第65-68页 |
| Appendix: Chronology | 第68-69页 |
| Bibliography | 第69-71页 |
