They treat man as a metaphysically given phenomena, like rain or the tide, determined by external factors, even people i respect such as Sam Harris do this.

Man is free to choose his actions, he may choose to be good, or choose to be evil. The point is he has a choice. Unfortunately many people choose to be evil, in one form or another they know this, but rationalise and evade thinking honestly about it.

A great tell is when someone gets immediately defensive when sincerely questioned on something they’ve done. They know they are wrong, but they don’t want to understand exactly how because it would shatter the illusion they are trying to convince themselves is real.

Of course it is possible to be honestly mistaken and commit evil acts but anybody who is honestly mistaken would be open to discussion and changing their mind. If their pursuit is to honestly understand reality and actin in accordance with it, they would not get irrationally defensive. If they want to know the truth, they would seek to discover it and then change their concepts and actions according to the new knowledge.