THE Takedown of "Social Justice"

While I have Feser's blog on my favorites list, I don't read him enough.  Thus, Vox picked up this column in which Feser demolishes the Social Justice flapjaw and defends the (Catholic) cardinal virtues instead.

...Let’s consider the fate of the cardinal virtues in a modern democratic society.  The words “wisdom,” “courage,” “moderation,” and “justice” are certainly not absent in such societies.  To some extent the content of the traditional virtues is even respected -- democratic citizens will approve of the courage they read about in military history or see portrayed in movies like Saving Private Ryan, will commend moderation where overindulgence might affect bodily health, and so forth.

But much more prominent than the cardinal virtues -- and to a large extent coloring the conception democratic man has of the content of the cardinal virtues -- are certain other character traits, such as open-mindedness, empathy, tolerance, and fairness.  The list will be familiar, since the language of these “virtues” permeates contemporary pop culture and politics, and it can be said to constitute a kind of counterpoint to the traditional cardinal virtues.  And in each case the counter-virtue entails a turn of just the sort one might expect given Plato’s analysis of democracy -- from the objective to the subjective, from a focus on the way things actually are to a focus on the way one believes or desires them to be....

And Feser proceeds to show exactly how "social justice" is entirely deficient v. the real virtues.

I doubt that the "social justice" Catholic Bishops will suddenly realize that the Catholic cardinal virtues are what they should be preaching about.  We've often mentioned that "social justice" is an artificial construct which is un-achievable, largely because "social justice" cannot be defined. 

Feser demonstrates that fact.  Read it!