Understanding the Dark Side of Human Nature

People reserve the concept of the dark side for science fiction or psychopaths; the truth of human nature; how the dark side relates both to one's tendencies toward immorality and evil and to some of the human condition's most problematic aspects.

Answering the question of whether people are fundamentally good, fundamentally evil or neither; an ancient debate between great Confucian philosophers; contemplating theories of human nature; how they frame a person's view of the world.

In order to fully examine the dark side of human nature, one needs to go deeper; questioning whether evil actually exists; what it means to call an action evil; exploring the ontological and conceptual aspects of evil by referencing great thinkers.

The line between bad and evil; what it takes to label a person evil; developing one's own views of when an individual is or is not evil by considering four models of evil, which are the Evildoer, the Dispositional, the Affect, and the Moral Monster.

The question of whether psychopaths responsible for their actions; considering how much responsibility evildoers can and should accept for their crimes, with the help of philosophers; ways by which they might not be so different from other people.

How one would know if they are committing a sin; what its consequences would be; exploring the Christian concepts of sin, from the words of Jesus to Thomas Aquinas, Augustine and modern theologians; how they relate to a secular notion of evil.