Unlike original sin, which Christian belief has understood as inherited, radical evil is self-incurred by each human being. It consists in a fundamental misdirection of our willing that corrupts our choice of action. In Kant's terminology, it consists in an “inversion” of our “maxims,” which are the principles for action we pose to ourselves in making our choices. Instead of making the rightness of actions — i.e., the categorical imperative — the fundamental principle for choice, we make the satisfaction of one of our own ends take priority in the willing of our actions. We thus inculcate in ourselves a propensity to make exceptions to the demand of the categorical imperative in circumstances when such an exception seems to be in our own favor.

Overcoming radical evil requires a “change of heart” — i.e., a reordering of our fundamental principle of choice — that we are each responsible for effecting in ourselves...Kant reinterprets the Christian doctrine of the atonement through the death of Jesus Christ. He rejects the view of “vicarious atonement” — that Christ takes away the guilt of previous evil conduct by standing as a substitute for all of us — in favor of an “exemplary” one. - source

A reasonable account of evil must recognize that much evil is caused not by moral monsters but ordinary people going about their ordinary lives. - source

Competitive altruism often takes beneficial forms. If a politician is compelled by competitive altruism to act in the best interests of a group he represents, and to use government money in the group’s interest, he will win more favor among voters than a less altruistic competitor. However, it is also possible for competitive altruism to hurt the group. Since competitive altruists are striving for their own personal ends rather than those of the group, their apparently altruistic actions can easily damage the group’s interests. - source