Literary notes about heredity (AI summary)
The term “heredity” has been employed in literature as both a scientific concept and a rich metaphor for exploring human nature, tradition, and social structures. In sociological and educational texts, authors frequently contrast heredity with environmental factors—arguing its role in shaping individual destiny and even limiting education ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5]). Meanwhile, literary figures use the concept to evoke a sense of mystery and inevitability, as seen in Joyce’s skeptical inquiry into its nature ([6]) and Nietzsche’s broader reflections on its elusive, almost mythic quality ([7], [8], [9]). In works ranging from sociological treatises to novels and philosophical essays, heredity emerges as a dual-force: one that is at once a measurable biological phenomenon and a metaphor for inherited culture, destiny, and even artistic genius ([10], [11]).
- A study in education and heredity.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - Thus taken, the influence of heredity is opposed to that of the environment, and the efficacy of the latter belittled.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - [Pg 126] D. BIOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL HEREDITY 1. Nature and Nurture
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - In this sense, heredity is a limit of education.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - But for educational purposes heredity means neither more nor less than the original endowment of an individual.
— from Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education by John Dewey - Temple turned back to Stephen and asked: —Do you believe in the law of heredity? —Are you drunk or what are you or what are you trying to say?
— from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - They are analogies; for instance, our memory may suggest another kind of memory which makes itself felt in heredity, development, and forms.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche - " Heredity, " as something quite incomprehensible, cannot be used as an explanation, but only as a designation for the identification of a problem.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche - Tradition is looked upon as a fatality; it is studied and acknowledged (in the form of "heredity"), but people will not have anything to do with it.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book I and II by Nietzsche - The great scientific interest of these facts is in their bearing on the question of heredity.
— from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - Some traits of his mind and character may be traced back to his ancestors, but what doctrine of heredity can give us the genesis of his genius?
— from Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson
