Ancient Debates - Inherited Guilt

Many old texts, whether religious, fictional, or historical, exhibit a particularly interesting variation on LaMarke's invalid theory of evolution - namely, the idea of inherited guilt.  These texts suggest that if one's forbears committed immoral acts, one is guilty of those acts by proxy.  The Bible provides numerous examples of this; the concept of original sin (that is, all of humanity is guilty due to Adam and Eve's initial sin of eating the apple from the Tree of Knowledge) illustrates it well, as does the statement that illegitimate children (and their descendants for nine subsequent generations) cannot enter heaven.  Contemporary examples of this type of thinking also, unfortunately, exist; the idea that descendants of Nazis (regardless of their own opinions of their ancestors' actions) owe the descendants of those who suffered due to the holocaust occurs with alarming frequency.  Subtler examples are even more widespread and perhaps more insidious; people may assume that, because one's parents were alcoholic, one will inevitably become an alcoholic oneself.  These cases do have some basis in fact - growing up around alcoholics may predispose one towards alcoholism oneself - but they are far from certain.  Many circumstances, both internal and external, can cause one to reject the lifestyles of one's guardians or mentor figures.