@Jonathanglick yes! just as with old-school bloodlines, i suspect there's an aspect of genealogy conveying authority rendering the topic fascinating and high-stakes. "intellectual pedigree", we say.

@Jonathanglick maybe a less cynical explanation is that geneaology lets ideas that otherwise are just dry theory be presented as narrative — stuff happened, there were twists and turns in the plot, before we came to this important understanding.