Astrology: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia
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Line 1: {{short description|Divination based on the movements of the stars}} {{Hatnote group|{{About-distinguish-text|the divinatory pseudoscience|[[Astronomy]], the scientific study of celestial objects}}{{Other uses}}}}
{{pp|small=yes}} {{good article}} Line 13 ⟶ 12: '''Astrology''' is a range of [[Divination|divinatory]] practices, recognized as [[pseudoscientific]] since the 18th century,<ref> {{cite book |last=Hanegraaff |first=Wouter J. |author-link=Wouter Hanegraaff |title=Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture |year=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-19621-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=02bfnhO0H8sC&pg=171 |page=171 |access-date=19 July 2022 |archive-date=26 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126022539/https://books.google.com/books?id=02bfnhO0H8sC&pg=171 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Thagard|1978|p=229}} that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of [[Celestial objects in astrology|celestial objects]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | publisher = Oxford University Press | title = astrology | encyclopedia = Oxford Dictionary of English | access-date = 11 December 2015 | url = https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/astrology| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120719044917/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/astrology| url-status = dead| archive-date = 19 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | publisher = Merriam-Webster Inc. | title = astrology| encyclopedia = Merriam-Webster Dictionary | access-date = 11 December 2015 | url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/astrology}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy |first1= Nicholas |last1= Bunnin |first2= Jiyuan |last2= Yu |publisher= John Wiley & Sons |year= 2008 |page= 57 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=LdbxabeToQYC&q=dictionary+philosophy+astrology&pg=PA57|isbn= 9780470997215 |doi=10.1002/9780470996379 }}</ref><ref name="Thagard">{{cite journal|last=Thagard|first=Paul R.|author-link=Paul Thagard|year=1978|title=Why Astrology is a Pseudoscience|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/THAWAI|journal=Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association|volume=1|issue=1 |pages=223–234|doi=10.1086/psaprocbienmeetp.1978.1.192639|s2cid=147050929|access-date=14 November 2018|archive-date=28 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328142123/https://philpapers.org/rec/THAWAI|url-status=live| issn = 0270-8647}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Jarry |first1=Jonathan |title=How Astrology Escaped the Pull of Science |url=https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/pseudoscience/how-astrology-escaped-pull-science |website=Office for Science and Society |publisher=McGill University |access-date=2 June 2022 |date=9 October 2020 |archive-date=13 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813034228/https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/pseudoscience/how-astrology-escaped-pull-science |url-status=live }}</ref> Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in [[Calendrical calculation|calendrical]] systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications.<ref name="Koch-Westenholz 1995 Foreword, 11">{{cite book |last= Koch-Westenholz |first= Ulla |title= Mesopotamian astrology: an introduction to Babylonian and Assyrian celestial divination |year= 1995 |publisher= Museum Tusculanum Press |location= Copenhagen |isbn= 978-87-7289-287-0 |pages= Foreword, 11}}</ref> Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the [[Hindu astrology|Hindus]], [[Chinese astrology|Chinese]], and the [[Maya civilization|Maya]]—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. [[Western astrology]], one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE [[Mesopotamia]], from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the [[Astrology in medieval Islam|Islamic world]], and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of [[horoscope]]s that purport to explain aspects of a person's personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.{{sfn|Bennett|2007|p=83}} Throughout its history, astrology has had its detractors, competitors and skeptics who opposed it for moral, religious, political, and empirical reasons.{{r|"Massimo1"}}{{r|"Beanato1"}}{{r|Hughes}} Nonetheless, prior to the Enlightenment, astrology was generally considered a scholarly tradition and was common in learned circles, often in close relation with [[astronomy]], [[Astrometeorology|meteorology]], [[Medical astrology|medicine]], and [[alchemy]].<ref name="Kassell">{{cite journal |last= Kassell |first= Lauren |title= Stars, spirits, signs: towards a history of astrology 1100–1800 |journal= Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences |date= 5 May 2010 |volume= 41 |issue= 2 |pages= 67–69 |doi= 10.1016/j.shpsc.2010.04.001|pmid= 20513617 }}</ref> It was present in political circles and is mentioned in various works of literature, from [[Dante Alighieri]] and [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] to [[William Shakespeare]], [[Lope de Vega]], and [[Pedro == Etymology == Line 32 ⟶ 31: {{further|Babylonian astrology|Worship of heavenly bodies}} Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky.{{sfn|Campion|2009|pp=2, 3}} Early evidence for humans making conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles, appears as markings on bones and cave walls, which show that [[lunar cycle]]s were being noted as early as 25,000 years ago.<ref name=Marshack>{{cite book|last=Marshack |first=Alexander |title=The roots of civilization : the cognitive beginnings of man's first art, symbol and notation|year=1991 |publisher=Moyer Bell |isbn=978-1-55921-041-6 |edition=Rev. and expanded |pages=81ff}}</ref> This was a first step towards recording the Moon's influence upon tides and rivers, and towards organising a communal calendar.<ref name=Marshack/> Farmers addressed agricultural needs with increasing knowledge of the [[constellations]] that appear in the different seasons—and used the rising of particular star-groups to herald annual floods or seasonal activities.<ref name="homerica">{{ Scattered evidence suggests that the oldest known astrological references are copies of texts made in the ancient world. The [[Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa]] is thought to have been compiled in [[Babylon]] around 1700 BCE.<ref>Russell Hobson, ''The Exact Transmission of Texts in the First Millennium B.C.E.'', Published PhD Thesis. Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies. University of Sydney. 2009 [http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/5404/1/r-hobson-2009-thesis.pdf PDF File] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502104018/https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/5404/1/r-hobson-2009-thesis.pdf |date=2 May 2019 }}</ref> A scroll documenting an early use of [[electional astrology]] is doubtfully ascribed to the reign of the [[Sumer]]ian ruler [[Gudea of Lagash]] ({{Circa|2144}} – 2124 BCE). This describes how the gods revealed to him in a dream the constellations that would be most favourable for the planned construction of a temple.<ref>From scroll A of the ruler Gudea of Lagash, I 17 – VI 13. O. Kaiser, ''Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments'', Bd. 2, 1–3. Gütersloh, 1986–1991. Also quoted in A. Falkenstein, 'Wahrsagung in der sumerischen Überlieferung', ''La divination en Mésopotamie ancienne et dans les régions voisines''. Paris, 1966.</ref> However, there is controversy about whether these were genuinely recorded at the time or merely ascribed to ancient rulers by posterity. The oldest undisputed evidence of the use of astrology as an integrated system of knowledge is therefore attributed to the records of the first dynasty of [[Babylon]] (1950–1651 BCE). This astrology had some parallels with [[Hellenistic]] Greek (western) astrology, including the [[zodiac]], a norming point near 9 degrees in Aries, the trine aspect, planetary exaltations, and the dodekatemoria (the twelve divisions of 30 degrees each).<ref name="Rochberg-Halton">{{cite journal | title=Elements of the Babylonian Contribution to Hellenistic Astrology | author=Rochberg-Halton, F. | s2cid=163678063 | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | year=1988 | volume=108 | issue=1 | pages=51–62 | jstor=603245 | doi=10.2307/603245}}</ref> The Babylonians viewed celestial events as possible signs rather than as causes of physical events.<ref name="Rochberg-Halton"/> Line 280 ⟶ 279: * [[Astrology software]] * [[Barnum effect]] * [[Glossary of astrology]] * [[List of astrological traditions, types, and systems]] * [[List of topics characterized as pseudoscience|List of topics characterised as pseudoscience]] | |||