Astrology: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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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 {{harvnb|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.{{sfn|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>{{harvnb|Allum|2010|p=344}}: "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."</ref>{{sfn|Nickerson|1998|pp=180–181}}<ref name="Eysenck1982">{{cite book sfn|last=Eysenck |first=H.J. Nias|title=Astrology: Science or Superstition? 1982|yearpp=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}}{{efn|see [[Heuristics in judgement and decision making]]}} 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.{{sfn|Nickerson|1998|pp=180–181}} Thus there are two distinct forms of confirmation bias that are under study with respect to astrological belief.{{sfn|Nickerson|1998|pp=180–181}}

=== Demarcation ===

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=== Lack of mechanisms and consistency ===

Testing the validity of astrology can be difficult, because there is no consensus amongst astrologers as to what astrology is or what it can predict.{{sfn|Bennett|2007|p=83}} Most professional astrologers are paid to predict the future or describe a person's personality and life, but most horoscopes only make vague untestable statements that can apply to almost anyone.{{sfn|Bennett|2007}}<ref name="Eysenck1982"/>{{rpsfn|Eysenck|Nias|1982|p=83}}

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>

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* {{cite book | last=Campion | first=Nicholas | title=A History of Western Astrology |volume=I: The Ancient World | place=London |publisher=Continuum | year=2008 |isbn=978-1441127372 }}

* {{cite book |last=Campion |first=Nicholas |title=A History of Western Astrology |volume=II: The Medieval and Modern Worlds |year=2009 |place=London |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-1-4411-8129-9 |edition=1st}}

* {{cite book | last=Campion | first=Nicholas | title=Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy | chapter=Astrology as Cultural Astronomy | publisher=Springer New York | publication-place=New York, NY | date=2014-07-07 | pages=103–116 | doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_16| isbn=978-1-4614-6140-1 }}

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* {{cite book |last1=Eysenck |first1=H. J. |last2=Nias |first2=D. K. B. |title=Astrology: Science or Superstition? |year=1982 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0312058067}}

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* {{cite book | last=Grim | first=Patrick | title=Philosophy of Science and the Occult | publisher=State University of New York Press | publication-place=Albany | date=1990 | isbn=0-7914-0204-5 | oclc=21196067}}