Vices and virtues in the philosophy of history

Historian Will Durant writes in the Lessons of History that almost every vice was once a virtue, and so our proclivity to vices today is a reflection of man's rise, not The Fall.  It's an interesting idea to ponder – not that I think Durant was speaking theologically; The Fall made for a strong metaphor in Durant's philosophy of history.  In any case, it got me thinking – the story of the creation of man, if one was to take it as metaphysical truth in literary and theological, not literalist, sense, describes the moment where God made man distinct from all other creatures.  And that distinction seems to go hand-in-hand with both the reception of the divine spirit (breathed into him) and The Fall; the very thing that makes man Man is his free will, and it's hard, in a fallen world to imagine free will without a fall.  And most interestingly – the story itself implies that civilization is the result the Fall; Adam and Eve clothe themselves as a result of eating the forbidden fruit, begin that long march toward the creation of textiles, specializations, art, industry, science, and commerce.  Did God know how the free will would be abused?  Surely.  And so the making of man or as Durant puts it, man's rise, and The Fall, become rich fodder for meditation on who man is, and what God wants for and from him.

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