博客來人類是否真的帶著「原罪」出生？我們與惡的距離，究竟取決於先天的遺傳，還是後天的選擇？如今，DNA 科學的研究結果，已讓這些大哉問不再僅僅停留在宗教或哲學的範疇。
德州大學心理系教授、校內「行為遺傳學實驗室」主持人——凱薩琳・佩吉・哈登（Kathryn Paige Harden），繼轟動學界的《The Genetic Lottery》，再次大膽揭示一項殘酷的真相：基因遺傳的差異，確實使得有些人天生就比別人更難成為一個「好人」。
科學研究已證實「基因」對個人氣質與行為具有深遠的影響力。先天的 DNA 差異，就像是一場出生即開獎的殘酷樂透：有人幸運中了頭彩，天生擁有穩定溫和的特質；也有人無奈抽中了下下籤，繼承了難以控制衝動、易怒的大腦迴路。這些生理上的劣勢，若未獲得後天環境適當的承接與協助，極易染上惡習，進而衍生出成癮、暴力、犯罪與反社會行為。
無論是在公共領域，或私領域的人際互動中，人們長久以來在古老的難題之間掙扎──是天性還是教養？該自由放任還是施加限制？該順應懲罰的衝動還是選擇寬恕？既然已知生物機制與後天經驗共同塑造了我們，個人該如何為自己負起責任，社會又該如何回應惡行？《Original Sin》反覆強調，承認遺傳上的差異，是希望對「生理上的劣勢者」產生更多基於科學的同理心。我們不應止步於司法懲戒、道德譴責，而需進一步思考如何建構更健全人道的體系，協助個體適應無法選擇的生理特質，進而勾勒出更穩定、和諧的社會願景。(文/博客來編譯)
A daring and intimate exploration of how genetics complicates our ideas about blame, punishment, and moral responsibility, from acclaimed psychologist and author of The Genetic Lottery Kathryn Paige Harden.
＂An extraordinary book, the very best of science writing, because it is about not just science--it is memoir, history, bleeding-edge genetics, and a completely original take on original sin.＂--Adam Rutherford, author of A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived
As one of the world’s leading scientists examining how our DNA shapes differences in temperament, temptation, and behavior, Kathryn Paige Harden has seen firsthand how we continue to struggle--in public and in our most private relationships--with the ancient tensions between nature and nurture, freedom and constraint, the desire to punish and the longing to forgive.
In Original Sin, she weaves together insights from her own experience as a daughter, mother, wife, and scientist with cutting-edge research in genetics and psychology to grapple with some of the most important questions in modern life: How do we take responsibility for the people we become, knowing how we are shaped by both biology and experience? How should we respond when people hurt each other--or themselves? And has science made guilt obsolete?
Navigating the psychological and biological terrain of addiction, antisocial behavior, and violence, Harden confronts the disorienting ways science unsettles our understanding of wrongdoing and choice. In doing so, she asks us not to absolve but to reckon differently with notions of fairness and blame. A revelatory inquiry into the uneasy space where human behavior meets inherited biology, Original Sin challenges us to imagine a more humane vision of accountability--for ourselves and for one another.
