A sage man once said, “The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself.”
–Plato, Laws I.626e
When did knowledge replace wisdom, or facts replace virtues? Was it during the Enlightenment when rationality and science replaced the objective standard of divine justice and righteousness? This sounds terribly right. And it explains a lot about what’s wrong with the world today.
This is how I think Christians should think about the anthropological relationship between justice and righteousness: justice is the act of being in right relationship, and righteousness is the state of being in right relationship. Thus, justice, given all the facts, serves righteousness, which is the state of disposition required for virtue. The goal is to be in a healthy, reciprocal relationship.
I see the replacement of virtues by facts most often portrayed in modern movies where the hero or heroine is extremely gifted (brilliant) but usually lacks virtues such as humility and self-control.
We watch these films and fail to acknowledge the paucity of virtues portrayed because we’re so taken by the character’s natural talent while being distracted by the ridiculous antics embroiled in by the character’s lapse in decorum.
This sadly communicates that we cherish things we don’t have to work hard for while diminishing the role of diligence when it comes to mastering one’s self.