For something so fundamental to the human condition, it seems odd that we are still pondering its nature after so many millennia. One would think that after such prodigious periods of time in the fellowship of this persistent companion, we would be all too familiar with its every intimate detail.
Many people have a vested interest in promulgating one viewpoint over another.
Perhaps they seek to excuse themselves or their groups from any wrongdoing. The former inevitably devolves into the latter upon closer examination. These folks declare that a variety of causes suffice to explain undesirable behavior. We act as we do, they say, from historical necessity or because of genetic programming or the inescapable influences of our environment. Criminals are not evil, merely in the throes of a corrupt culture.