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Publish the Obsidian vault's Knowledge folder as /knowledge (881 notes, 67 folders), with a Knowledge item in the nav and footer. - scripts/import_knowledge.py regenerates data/knowledge from the vault: slugged paths, folder notes as index pages, wikilinks resolved to site links (or plain text), callouts, highlights, and Dataview tables rendered statically. Personal notes are withheld via an exclusion list plus a privacy guard. - tuftecms/core/knowledge.py builds a concept index from note titles and aliases. First mentions on ordinary pages link to their Knowledge note (capped, never in headings, code, links, or sidenotes); Knowledge pages list related notes and where they're mentioned across the site; other pages get a Related Knowledge block. - Knowledge URLs join sitemap.xml (so the sweep test covers them), never displace existing legacy slugs, list alphabetically, and mermaid diagrams render client-side only on pages that have them.
59 lines
5.0 KiB
Markdown
59 lines
5.0 KiB
Markdown
---
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description: A virtue is not the absence of a vice. It is a strength trained until
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it holds.
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source: obsidian-knowledge
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---
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# Virtues
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> *A virtue is not the absence of a vice. It is a strength trained until it holds.*
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---
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Three lists braid together here, from three different centuries and two different civilizations, and the tradition never quite decided to separate them — because they answer different questions.
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The **seven heavenly virtues** are the remedies: one counter-practice per deadly sin, the medicine matched to the disease. [Humility](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/humility) against [Pride](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/seven-deadly-sins/pride), [Kindness](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/kindness) against [Envy](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/seven-deadly-sins/envy), [Patience](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/patience) against [Wrath](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/seven-deadly-sins/wrath), [Diligence](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/diligence) against [Sloth](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/seven-deadly-sins/sloth), [Charity](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/charity) against [Greed](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/seven-deadly-sins/greed), [Temperance](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/temperance-virtue) against [Gluttony](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/seven-deadly-sins/gluttony), [Chastity](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/chastity-virtue) against [Lust](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/seven-deadly-sins/lust). Their lineage runs back to Prudentius's *Psychomachia*, the fifth-century poem that staged the moral life as single combat between personified virtues and vices.
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The **four cardinal virtues** are older and Greek: [Prudence](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/prudence), [Justice](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/justice-virtue), [Fortitude](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/fortitude), and [Temperance](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/temperance-virtue), named in Plato's *Republic*, systematized by the Stoics — see [Stoicism](/knowledge/philosophy/stoicism) — and carried into Christian theology by Ambrose and Aquinas. *Cardinal* from *cardo*, hinge: the four on which every other virtue turns. Three of them survive in the tarot's trumps — [Justice](/knowledge/tarot/major-arcana/justice), [Strength](/knowledge/tarot/major-arcana/strength), and [Temperance](/knowledge/tarot/major-arcana/temperance) — with Prudence famously missing from the deck.
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The **three theological virtues** come from a single verse, 1 Corinthians 13:13: "And now abideth [Faith](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/faith), [Hope](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/hope), [Charity](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/charity), these three; but the greatest of these is charity." Aquinas taught that the cardinal virtues can be acquired by practice, but the theological three are infused — given, not built. Charity appears on two lists at once, remedy and gift, which the tradition took as the point: love is both the medicine and the goal. Paul's companion list in Galatians names the harvest of the same life — see Fruits of the Spirit.
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---
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## The Three Lists
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| List | Members |
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|------|---------|
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| Seven heavenly (remedial) | [Humility](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/humility), [Charity](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/charity), [Chastity](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/chastity-virtue), [Kindness](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/kindness), [Patience](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/patience), [Temperance](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/temperance-virtue), [Diligence](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/diligence) |
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| Four cardinal | [Prudence](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/prudence), [Justice](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/justice-virtue), [Fortitude](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/fortitude), [Temperance](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/temperance-virtue) |
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| Three theological | [Faith](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/faith), [Hope](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/hope), [Charity](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/virtues/charity) |
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Where the lists cross is the whole point — Temperance sits on both the cardinal and the remedial rolls, and Charity is at once a remedy and the greatest of the theological gifts:
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```mermaid
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flowchart TD
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R["Seven heavenly virtues — the remedies"]
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C["Four cardinal virtues — Plato, the Stoics"]
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T["Three theological virtues — 1 Corinthians 13"]
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Temp["Temperance"]
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Char["Charity — the greatest"]
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R --> Temp
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C --> Temp
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R --> Char
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T --> Char
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```
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---
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## Related
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- [Virtues & Vices](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices) — the domain index
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- [Seven Deadly Sins](/knowledge/virtues-and-vices/seven-deadly-sins) — what the remedies answer
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- [Stoicism](/knowledge/philosophy/stoicism) — the cardinal virtues' philosophical home
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- [Christianity](/knowledge/religions-of-the-world/christianity) — the tradition that braided the lists
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- Fruits of the Spirit — Paul's parallel harvest
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---
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*Twelve names, three lists, one life.*
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