Inheritance
According to The American Heritage Dictionary, Inheritance can mean
- Something that one came into possession of.
- Something that is received from an ancestor or other person by legal succession or will.
- Something regarded as heritage: the cultural inheritance of Rome.
- Biol a. The process of genetic transmission of characteristics. b. A characteristic so inherited.
These various types of inheritance, and others, are studied within different fields:
Sociologists have studied the inheritance of physical and monetary items from one's ancestors, namely the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, and obligations after death. Also of interest to sociologists is the third type of inheritance, the heritage we receive from our family, society, culture, nation, and world.
- Inheritance (Biology)
Biological inheritance is the process by which a cell or organism acquires characteristics of its parent cell or organism. The study of biological inheritance is called genetics.
- Inheritance (spiritual)
In addition to inheriting physical, social, and biological items or characteristics, there are also spiritual or religious aspects to inheritance. These involve passing on spiritual merit or debt to one's descendants, karma, original sin, ancestral sin, etc.
- Inheritance (Computer science)
Applying the concept of inheritance in computer science allows the reuse of existing code with little or no modification, by creating a new context which receives certain traits from one previously defined. For example, in some word processing applications, stylistic attributes such as font size, layout, or color, may be inherited from a template or from another document.
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