If we look back on history we see many early civilizations attributed evil to a multitude of ills whether it a natural disaster, or a terrible misfortune, or ones impulses to do wrong. In today's society we typically use the word "evil" to describe the gravity of the event, to imply a much deeper more permanent sense of wrong doing. And though it is no longer used to describe an "act of god" as it was in the old days, its very connotation as such however, is what gives the word its power. Because of its pervasive effect and cause for be wonderment across mankind, evil, or some's predisposition to evil acts, has been studied by some of the greatest minds of all time. .
In a recent study by Paul J. Zak a researcher, has found that some of our innate actions can be attributed to a hormone called oxytocin. It was observed that the variation in the levels of oxytocin create a more and/or less conducive physiological environment to act with more aggression and become less empathetic. Meaning for example, the less oxytocin in the system the less one will care about how their actions affect others; making them more apt to malice and malevolence, or, evil. .
It has also been suggested that it is possible evil is more of a perception, a subjective understanding of a certain happening, and is therefore relative. It is used as a word to describe the level of ill manner that we are able to endure. In other words, evil is used when we find a perpetrator incapable of rehabilitation, his actions and feelings towards those actions were unforgivable, and suggests there is no changing this person, this person has no intention of changing and essentially there is no good found in them. As philosopher Peter Dews writes, "Basic notions of offence and punishment, of transgression and forgiveness, seem to lose their grip in the face of profound, far reaching desecrations of the human.