Astrology: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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* {{harvnb|Thagard|1978|p=229}}.</ref> that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events 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}}</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 Calderón de la Barca|Calderón de la Barca]]. During [[the Enlightenment]], however, astrology lost its status as an area of legitimate scholarly pursuit.<ref name=Porter /><ref name =Rutkin /> Following the end of the 19th century and the wide-scale adoption of the [[scientific method]], researchers have successfully challenged astrology on both theoretical{{sfn|Biswas|Mallik|Vishveshwara|1989|p=249}}<ref name="AsquithNSF" /> and experimental grounds,<ref name=Carlson>{{cite journal | last= Carlson | first= Shawn |title= A double-blind test of astrology |journal= Nature |year= 1985 |volume= 318 |pages= 419–425 |url= http://muller.lbl.gov/papers/Astrology-Carlson.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://muller.lbl.gov/papers/Astrology-Carlson.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |doi= 10.1038/318419a0 |issue= 6045 | bibcode = 1985Natur.318..419C| s2cid= 5135208 }}</ref><ref name=Zarka>{{cite journal sfn|last= Zarka |first= Philippe |title= Astronomy and astrology |journal= Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union |year= 2011 |volume= 5 |issue= S260 |pages= 420–425 |doi= 10.1017/S1743921311002602 |bibcode= 2011IAUS..260..420Z |url= https://zenodo.org/record/890932 |doi-access= free |access-date= 16 September 2019 |archive-date= 18 August 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200818112236/https://zenodo.org/record/890932 |url-status= live }}</ref> and have shown it to have no scientific validity or [[explanatory power]].{{sfn|Bennett|2007}} Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing in the western world, and common belief in it largely declined, until a continuing resurgence starting in the 1960s.<ref name="Brit">{{cite encyclopedia |author1= David E. Pingree |author2= Robert Andrew Gilbert |title= Astrology - Astrology in modern times |url= https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/39971/astrology/35979/Astrology-in-modern-times |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date= 7 October 2012 | quote = In countries such as India, where only a small intellectual elite has been trained in Western physics, astrology manages to retain here and there its position among the sciences. Its continued legitimacy is demonstrated by the fact that some Indian universities offer advanced degrees in astrology. In the West, however, Newtonian physics and Enlightenment rationalism largely eradicated the widespread belief in astrology, yet Western astrology is far from dead, as demonstrated by the strong popular following it gained in the 1960s.}}</ref>

== Etymology ==

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[[File:Karl Popper.jpg|thumb|upright|Popper proposed falsifiability as something that distinguishes science from non-science, using astrology as the example of an idea that has not dealt with falsification during experiment.]]

The scientific community rejects astrology as having no explanatory power for describing the universe, and considers it a [[pseudoscience]].<ref name="SandPSandAstroSoc">{{cite encyclopedia|author1=Sven Ove Hansson|author2=Edward N. Zalta|title=Science and Pseudo-Science|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-science/|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=6 July 2012|quote=[...] advocates of pseudo-sciences such as astrology and homeopathy tend to describe their theories as conformable to mainstream science.}}</ref><ref name="astrosociety.org">{{cite web|title=Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List|url=http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html|publisher=Astronomical Society of the Pacific|access-date=13 January 2007|archive-date=30 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230053308/http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hartmann|Reuter|Nyborga|2006|p=1350}}: "To optimise the chances of finding even remote relationships between date of birth and individual differences in personality and intelligence we further applied two different strategies. The first one was based on the common chronological concept of time (e.g. month of birth and season of birth). The second strategy was based on the (pseudo-scientific) concept of astrology (e.g. Sun Signs, The Elements, and astrological gender), as discussed in the book ''Astrology: Science or superstition?'' by Eysenck and Nias (1982)".</ref> Scientific testing of astrology has been conducted, and no evidence has been found to support any of the premises or purported effects outlined in astrological traditions.<ref name="Zarka"/>{{rpsfn|Zarka|2011|p=424}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Astrology True or False?: A Scientific Evaluation |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1988 |first1=Roger B. |last1=Culver |first2=Philip A. |last2=Ianna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OhoRAQAAIAAJ|isbn=9780879754839 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=McGrew |first1=John H. |last2=McFall |first2=Richard M. |title=A Scientific Inquiry into the Validity of Astrology |journal=Journal of Scientific Exploration |volume=4 |number=1 |pages=75–83 |year=1990 |url=http://www.skepticalmedia.com/astrology/Scientific%20Inquiry%20into%20Astrology.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.skepticalmedia.com/astrology/Scientific%20Inquiry%20into%20Astrology.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}{{unreliable source?|date=February 2020}}</ref> There is no proposed [[Scientific modelling|mechanism of action]] by which the positions and motions of stars and planets could affect people and events on Earth that does not contradict basic and well understood aspects of biology and physics.{{sfn|Biswas|Mallik|Vishveshwara|1989|p=249}}<ref name=AsquithNSF>{{cite book | editor=Peter D. Asquith |title=Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, vol. 1 |year=1978 |publisher=Reidel |location=Dordrecht |isbn=978-0-917586-05-7 |url=http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/Articles/astrology.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/Articles/astrology.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}; {{cite web |title=Chapter 7: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding |url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/c7/c7s2.htm |work=science and engineering indicators 2006 |publisher=National Science Foundation |access-date=2 August 2016 |quote=About three-fourths of Americans hold at least one pseudoscientific belief; i.e., they believed in at least 1 of the 10 survey items[29]"...&nbsp;" Those 10 items were extrasensory perception (ESP), that houses can be haunted, ghosts/that spirits of dead people can come back in certain places/situations, telepathy/communication between minds without using traditional senses, clairvoyance/the power of the mind to know the past and predict the future, astrology/that the position of the stars and planets can affect people's lives, that people can communicate mentally with someone who has died, witches, reincarnation/the rebirth of the soul in a new body after death, and channeling/allowing a "spirit-being" to temporarily assume control of a body. |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201220040/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/c7/c7s2.htm |archive-date=1 February 2013 |df=dmy}}</ref> Those who have faith in astrology have been characterised by scientists including Bart J. Bok as doing so "...in spite of the fact that there is no verified scientific basis for their beliefs, and indeed that there is strong evidence to the contrary".<ref name="Humanist">{{cite web|title=Objections to Astrology: A Statement by 186 Leading Scientists|publisher=The Humanist, September/October 1975|url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/astrology.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318140638/http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/astrology.html|archive-date=18 March 2009}}; [http://thehumanist.org/the-humanist-archive/ The Humanist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007094955/http://thehumanist.org/the-humanist-archive/ |date=7 October 2011 }}, volume 36, no.5 (1976); {{cite book |title=Philosophy of Science and the Occult |chapter=Objections to Astrology: A Statement by 186 Leading Scientists |year=1982 |publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany |isbn=978-0-87395-572-0 |pages=14–18 |author=Bok, Bart J. |author2=Lawrence E. Jerome |author3=Paul Kurtz |author-link3=Paul Kurtz |editor=Patrick Grim}}</ref>

[[Confirmation bias]] is a form of [[cognitive bias]], a [[Psychology|psychological]] factor that contributes to belief in astrology.<ref name="Allum">{{cite journal |last=Allum |first=Nick |title=What Makes Some People Think Astrology Is Scientific? |journal=Science Communication |date=13 December 2010 |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=341–366 |doi=10.1177/1075547010389819 |quote=This underlies the ''Barnum effect''. Named after the 19th-century showman Phileas T. Barnum—whose circus provided "a little something for everyone"—it refers to the idea that people believe a statement about their personality that is vague or trivial if they think it derives from some systematic procedure tailored especially for them (Dickson & Kelly, 1985; Furnham & Schofield, 1987; Rogers & Soule, 2009; Wyman & Vyse, 2008). For example, the more birth detail is used in an astrological prediction or horoscope, the more credulous people tend to be (Furnham, 1991). However, confirmation bias means that people do not tend to pay attention to other information that might disconfirm the credibility of the predictions. |url=http://repository.essex.ac.uk/6076/ |citeseerx=10.1.1.598.6954 |s2cid=53334767 |access-date=30 August 2017 |archive-date=30 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830193132/http://repository.essex.ac.uk/6076/ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|344;}}<ref name="Raymond">{{cite journal |first1=Raymond S. Nickerson |title=Confirmation Bias: A Ubiquitous Phenomenon in Many Guises |journal=Review of General Psychology|year=1998 |volume=2 |series=2 |pages=175–220 |doi=10.1037/1089-2680.2.2.175 |last1=Nickerson |issue=2|citeseerx=10.1.1.93.4839|s2cid=8508954 }}</ref>{{rp|180–181;}}<ref name="Eysenck1982">{{cite book |last=Eysenck |first=H.J. |title=Astrology: Science or Superstition? |year=1984 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=Harmondsworth |isbn=978-0-14-022397-2 |author2=Nias, D.K.B.}}</ref>{{rp|42–48}} {{efn|see [[Heuristics in judgement and decision making]]}}<ref name="Gonzalez">{{cite book |author=Gonzalez |editor= Jean-Paul Caverni |editor2=Jean-Marc Fabre, Michel |title=Cognitive biases |year=1990 |publisher=North-Holland |location=Amsterdam |isbn=978-0-444-88413-8}}</ref>{{rp|553}} Astrology believers tend to selectively remember predictions that turn out to be true, and do not remember those that turn out false. Another, separate, form of confirmation bias also plays a role, where believers often fail to distinguish between messages that demonstrate special ability and those that do not.<ref name="Raymond" />{{rp|180–181}} Thus there are two distinct forms of confirmation bias that are under study with respect to astrological belief.<ref name="Raymond" />{{rp|180–181}}

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=== Effectiveness ===

Astrology has not demonstrated its effectiveness in [[Experiment|controlled studies]] and has no scientific validity.{{sfn|Bennett|2007|p=85}}<ref name={{sfn|Zarka />|2011}} Where it has made [[falsifiable]] predictions under [[Scientific control|controlled conditions]], they have been falsified.<ref name=Zarka />{{rpsfn|Zarka|2011|p=424}} One famous experiment included 28 astrologers who were asked to match over a hundred natal charts to psychological profiles generated by the [[California Psychological Inventory]] (CPI) questionnaire.<ref name=Muller>{{cite web |last=Muller |first=Richard |title=Web site of Richard A. Muller, Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California at Berkeley |access-date=2 August 2011 |year=2010 |url=http://muller.lbl.gov/homepage.html |archive-date=12 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190312032922/http://muller.lbl.gov/homepage.html |url-status=live }}''My former student Shawn Carlson published in Nature magazine the definitive scientific test of Astrology.''<br>{{cite web |last=Maddox |first=Sir John |title=John Maddox, editor of the science journal Nature, commenting on Carlson's test |year=1995 |access-date=2 August 2011 |url=http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/astrology.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912144554/http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/astrology.html |archive-date=12 September 2012 |df=dmy }} ''"...&nbsp;a perfectly convincing and lasting demonstration."''</ref><ref name="CritThink">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Jonathan C. |title=Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit |year=2010 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Malden, MA|isbn=978-1-4051-8123-5}}</ref> The [[Blind experiment#Double-blind trials|double-blind]] experimental protocol used in this study was agreed upon by a group of physicists and a group of astrologers<ref name={{sfn|Zarka />|2011}} nominated by the [[National Council for Geocosmic Research]], who advised the experimenters, helped ensure that the test was fair<ref name=Carlson/>{{rp|420;}}<ref name=CritThink />{{rp|117}} and helped draw the central proposition of [[natal astrology]] to be tested.<ref name="Carlson" />{{rp|419}} They also chose 26 out of the 28 astrologers for the tests (two more volunteered afterwards).<ref name=Carlson/>{{rp|420}} The study, published in [[Nature (journal)|''Nature'']] in 1985, found that predictions based on natal astrology were no better than chance, and that the testing "...clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis."<ref name=Carlson />

In 1955, the astrologer and psychologist Michel Gauquelin stated that though he had failed to find evidence that supported indicators like [[Astrological signs|zodiacal signs]] and [[Astrological aspects|planetary aspects]] in astrology, he did find positive correlations between the [[Diurnal motion|diurnal positions]] of some [[Planets in astrology|planets]] and success in professions that astrology traditionally associates with those planets.<ref name=Pont>{{cite journal |last=Pont |first=Graham |title=Philosophy and Science of Music in Ancient Greece |journal=Nexus Network Journal |year=2004 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=17–29 |doi=10.1007/s00004-004-0003-x|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Gauquelin-1955">{{cite book |last=Gauquelin |first=Michel |title=L'influence des astres: étude critique et expérimentale |year=1955 |publisher=Éditions du Dauphin |location=Paris}}</ref> The best-known of Gauquelin's findings is based on the positions of Mars in the [[natal chart]]s of successful athletes and became known as the ''[[Mars effect]]''.<ref name=Carroll>{{cite book |last=Carroll|first=Robert Todd|title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions |year=2003 |publisher=Wiley |location=Hoboken, NJ |isbn=978-0-471-27242-7}}</ref>{{rp|213}} A study conducted by seven French scientists attempted to replicate the claim, but found no statistical evidence.<ref name=Carroll />{{rp|213–214}} They attributed the effect to selective bias on Gauquelin's part, accusing him of attempting to persuade them to add or delete names from their study.<ref name=Benski>{{cite book |last=Benski |first=Claude|others=with a commentary by [[Jan Willem Nienhuys]] |title=The "Mars Effect: A French Test of over 1,000 Sports Champions |year=1995 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Amherst, NY |isbn=978-0-87975-988-9|display-authors=etal}}</ref>

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Many astrologers claim that astrology is scientific,<ref name=ChrisFrench>{{cite news |last=Chris |first=French |title=Astrologers and other inhabitants of parallel universes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/feb/07/astrologers-parallel-universes |work=The Guardian |date=7 February 2012 |access-date=8 July 2012 |location=London |archive-date=28 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128233226/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/feb/07/astrologers-parallel-universes |url-status=live }}</ref> while some have proposed conventional [[Causality|causal agents]] such as [[electromagnetism]] and [[gravity]].<ref name=ChrisFrench/> Scientists reject these mechanisms as implausible<ref name=ChrisFrench /> since, for example, the magnetic field, when measured from Earth, of a large but distant planet such as Jupiter is far smaller than that produced by ordinary household appliances.<ref name=Shermer>{{cite book |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Shermer |title=The Skeptic encyclopedia of pseudoscience |year=2002 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Cal. |isbn=978-1-57607-653-8 |page=241}}</ref>

Western astrology has taken the earth's [[Precession#Axial precession (precession of the equinoxes)|axial precession (also called precession of the equinoxes)]] into account since Ptolemy's ''[[Almagest]]'', so the "first point of Aries", the start of the astrological year, continually moves against the background of the stars.<ref>{{cite book | author=Tester, S. J. | title=A History of Western Astrology | year=1999 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer |page= 161}}</ref> The tropical zodiac has no connection to the stars, and as long as no claims are made that the constellations themselves are in the associated [[Astrological sign|sign]], astrologers avoid the concept that precession seemingly moves the constellations.<ref name=Charpak /> Charpak and Broch, noting this, referred to astrology based on the tropical zodiac as being "...empty boxes that have nothing to do with anything and are devoid of any consistency or correspondence with the stars."<ref name=Charpak/> Sole use of the tropical zodiac is inconsistent with references made, by the same astrologers, to the [[Age of Aquarius]], which depends on when the vernal point enters the constellation of Aquarius.<ref name={{sfn|Zarka />|2011}}

Astrologers usually have only a small knowledge of astronomy, and often do not take into account basic principles—such as the precession of the equinoxes, which changes the position of the sun with time. They commented on the example of [[Élizabeth Teissier]], who claimed that, "The sun ends up in the same place in the sky on the same date each year", as the basis for claims that two people with the same birthday, but a number of years apart, should be under the same planetary influence. Charpak and Broch noted that, "There is a difference of about twenty-two thousand miles between Earth's location on any specific date in two successive years", and that thus they should not be under the same influence according to astrology. Over a 40-year period there would be a difference greater than 780,000 miles.<ref name=Charpak>{{cite book |last1=Charpak |first1=Georges |last2=Broch |first2=Henri |year=2004 |orig-date=2002 |title=Debunked!: ESP, Telekinesis, and Other Pseudoscience |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DpnWcMzeh8oC&pg=PA6 |others=Translated by Bart K. Holland |location=Baltimore |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=9780801878671 |at="Astrology in a Vacuum", pp. 6–7}}</ref>

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* {{cite book | last=Wood | first= Chauncey | title=Chaucer and the Country of the Stars: Poetical Uses of Astrological Imagery | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=1970 |url=https://archive.org/details/chausercountryof0000unse |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0691061726 |oclc=1148223228}}

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* {{cite journal |last=Zarka |first=Philippe |title=Astronomy and Astrology |journal=Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union |year=2011 |volume=5 |issue=S260 |pages=420–425 |doi=10.1017/S1743921311002602 |bibcode=2011IAUS..260..420Z |url=https://zenodo.org/record/890932 |doi-access=free |access-date=16 September 2019 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818112236/https://zenodo.org/record/890932 |url-status=live}}

{{refend}}