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Archiver > GEN-MEDIEVAL > 2000-09 > 0969764065


From: "Todd A. Farmerie" <>
Subject: Re: Lines back to Adam and Eve
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 2000 20:54:25 -0600


"Chris & Tom Tinney, Sr." wrote:
>
> I believe Charles Darwin's ancestry is on topic,

Only the medieval portion of his ancestry is appropriate. That he
happens to be a descendant of these medieval people is irrelevant, just
as my medieval ancestors are on-topic but the fact that I descend from
any individual (or not) is not relevant to the discussion.

> as are his ideas, as they directly tie into GEN-
> MEDIEVAL.

His ideas are entirely off-topic, as the theory of evolution through
natural selection deals with individuals only as members of populations
(species), while genealogy deals with specific individuals and their
relationship to other specific individuals. The only thing the two have
in common is that reproduction is involved, but Darwin is no more
on-topic because of this commonality than discussion of the
anti-luteolitic properties of chorionic gonadotropin on the corpus
luteum.

This group deals with medieval genealogy, in other words, how specific
medieval people (loosely defined) related to each other. Darwin was not
medieval, and never in his writings mentioned anyone who was, except
perhaps in summarizing their scientific observations. He is thus
off-topic.

Mr. Reitwiesner has already addressed the topicality of biblical
genealogies.

ta

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