The four sinful conditions are errors.
361. Sin is ignorance; more accurately, it is that which appears to be knowledge, but is not knowledge; it is false judgment. If we follow the process by which knowledge is attained, we find that there is no error in the mind-picture (visum), whether it is sensory or partly sensory and partly rational; this is an adumbration automatically presented to the mind. But ‘assent is in our power’; it is both an intellectual and a moral act. A too hasty assent to that which appears to be but is not is both an error and an offence; and most particularly so when it lies in the application of the general conceptions (προλήψεις) of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ to particular cases[2]. In this way we quickly reach four sinful conditions, which come about by mistaking things indifferent, that is, advantages and disadvantages, for things good or evil. These are:
(i) Fear (φόβος, metus), in which a future disadvantage is mistaken for a future evil;
(ii) Greed (ἐπιθυμία, libido), in which a future advantage is mistaken for a future good;
(iii) Grief (λύπη, aegritudo), in which a present disadvantage is mistaken for a present evil;
(iv) Hilarity (ἡδονή, laetitia), in which a present advantage is mistaken for a present good[3].
In the case of the last two evils the title presents difficulty in all languages; thus for Grief we might substitute any term such as Discontent, Vexation, Worry or Fretfulness; it is a lack of Courage in bearing pain or disappointment. Again for Hilarity we might substitute Elation, Exaltation, Excitement: it is a lack of Soberness in the moment of pleasure.
They are also maladies.