The seven deadly sins: a neuroethical approach to the study of human behavior

Abstract

Sin in its original form constitutes a deviation from human behavior. The Christian doctrine incorporates into the Judeo-Christian tradition the capital sins that we all know (and their demons), as well as the virtues that can supposedly defeat them or at least neutralize: 1) arrogance / 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 thinking, sin would be to abuse God's freedom. According to John Bossy, the seven capital sins would be the expression of a social and community ethic with which the Catholic Church tried at the time to contain the violence and heal the conflictive medieval society. Sins and their penance were initially a healthy warning of how to manage their own individual and social behavior (Savater, 2013). That which modern society allows as lawful or not, has "overcome" the conduct and moral republicanism of our day (1). Morality is one of the most sophisticated characteristics of human judgment, behavior and mind. An individual who departs from morality violates the rules and civil rights, even affecting the individual freedoms of others, sometimes even aggressively. A scientific approach to the origins of evil refers us to the provoking 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 the moral philosophy and the neurosciences of that long section that is between the error of Prometheus and the error of Descartes.