Ron Rosenbaum write a noteworthy article in "Slate" - The End of Evil? Neuroscientists suggest there is no such thing. Are they right?
Rosenbaum surveys current thinking, pro and con, and then offers an observation of his own:
Evil does not necessarily inhere in some wiring diagram within the brain. Evil may inhere in bad ideas, particularly when they're dressed up as scientific (as Hitler did with his "scientific racism").
I think that's partly on the right track. For my money, the struggle between good and evil (sin) best explains human life and reality. As I read Rosenbaum's article (which quotes scientists who deny free will), my mind went to Alan Jacobs' Original Sin: A Cultural History. No explanation of human behavior can stand that ignores our "bent" condition. Only those with a marked ignorance of their own interior self can deny the reality of sin and evil.