[Chapter 3. The seven capital sins: genesis, virtues, demons and rights]

Sin in its original form constitutes a deviation from human behavior. Christian doctrine incorporates into the Judeo-Christian tradition the deadly sins that we all know (and their demons), as well as the virtues that are supposed to defeat or at least neutralize: 1) pride / humility, 2) greed / generosity, 3) lust / chastity, 4) anger / patience, 5) gluttony / temperance, 6) envy / charity and 7) laziness / diligence. In this same line of thought, to sin would be to abuse the freedom of God. According to John Bossy, the seven deadly sins would be the expression of a social and community ethic with which the Catholic Church tried at the time to contain violence and heal the troubled medieval society. Sins and their penance were originally a healthy warning of how to manage one’s individual and social behavior (Savater, 2013). That which Modern society allows as lawful or not, has “overcome” the conduct and moral republicanism of our days (1). Morality is one of the most sophisticated features of human judgment, behavior, and mind. An individual who deviates from violent morality, rules and civil rights, even affecting the individual liberties of others, sometimes even aggressively. A scientific approach to the origins of evil refers us to the exciting analysis of the molecular, epigenetic, phylogenetic and cellular determinants of the neurobiology of sin. This formidable adventure of thought constitutes a harmonious path traveled by moral philosophy and the neurosciences of that long stretch that is between the error of Prometheus and the error of Descartes.