Sentence:  Because he interprets the primitive state of man as one of <WSD>mere</WSD> potentiality or capacity and believes that Adam and Eve were created as children , Irenaeus often seems inclined to extenuate their disobedience as being `` due , no doubt , to carelessness , but still wicked '' . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  being nothing more than specified