Monday, August 3, 2009

Race and Inheritance

In Harry Potter. To quote:
Rowling... has simply updated feudal hereditarianism for the Mendelian Age. Monarchical dynasties notoriously tended to founder when regression toward the mean brought a legally legitimate but genetically incapable heir to the throne. In Rowling’s fictional world, race and inheritance remain as dominant in reality as they were in medieval political theory. Her innovation, however, is to inject into heredity’s manifestations a more scientific dose of randomness.
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