Is astrology a pseudoscience? In this essay I wish to argue that it is. Pseudoscience is a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method. (Oxford Dictionary) Science is distinguishable from revelation, theology or spirituality in that it offers insight into the physical world obtained by empirical research and testing; this is not the case with pseudoscience. Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world. (Oxford Dictionary) According to Thagard, you cannot tell if astrology is a pseudoscience by looking at the history or births of it, because “origins are irrelevant to scientific status.” …show more content…
In pseudoscience, extraordinary claims are made with little or no evidence provided. If a theory is not verifiable or based on evidence, surely we cannot claim it has any connection to reality. Carl Sagan claimed that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” If a claim is very unusual when you compare it to what we already know about the world, then little evidence is required in order to accept the theory. On the other hand, if a claim clearly contradicts what we already know about the world, then a substantial amount of evidence is needed in order for us to accept it. This is because if this new claim is accurate then we may have to reconsider many other theories or claims that we take for granted. For this new contradictory claim to be accepted, the evidence for it must outweigh the evidence against it. The entire field of astrology is characterised by extraordinary claims. If objects floating around in space actually have some sort of impact on a person’s life or personality then much of modern biology, chemistry and physics must be inaccurate. This is beyond our belief. Therefore, a massive amount of high-quality evidence must be presented before we can accept the claims made by astrologers. There is lack of such evidence, even after thousands of years of research. This further strengthens my claim that astrology is a …show more content…
Controls allow us to eliminate possible factors which may have an effect on the results. Repeatability means that someone else should be able to perform the exact same experiment and achieve the exact same results or conclusions, when this happens the theory in question is further confirmed. Neither controls nor repeatability are common in astrology. Controls, if they appear are not very reliable and rely on chance most of the time. Independent researchers are not able to reliably duplicate the findings of astrologers. Even other astrologers struggle to repeat the findings of their colleagues. So long as astrologers’ findings cannot be reliably repeated, they cannot claim that these findings are consistent with reality; this would then mean that it is impossible to prove astrology as
1. Video “Here Be Dragons” by Brian Dunning (4/15/14) is a fresh and critical overlook on the huge variety of so called “dragons” which exist in abundance even in our civilized society. This video promotes critical thinking and demonstrates the “red flags” that one has to look out for in order to detect pseudosciences. A pseudoscience is an idea that claims to be real but is not backed by any real science or evidence. For instance, hair analysis, feng shui, psychokinesis, homeopathy, numerology, aura analysis, the list could go on forever. The warning signs for such “sciences” are - appeal to authority, ancient wisdom, confirmation bias, confuse correlation with causation, red herring, proof by verbosity, mystical energy, suppression by authority, all natural and ideological support. The one “red flag” I have always been skeptical about and this video confirmed it for me is “appeal to authority”. It is hard for me to understand how people actually trust advertisements that are simply screaming “we are specialists, look at our white lab coats and and all the certificates and the celebrities that support our product”. It is simply pathetic. As Brian says - “Good science presents good data, it does not aim to impress”. However, the one “red flag” that I have to be careful about myself is confusing correlation with causation. It is the natural human tendency to assume that, if two events or phenomena consistently occur at about the same time, then one is the cause of the other. Our weakness for this tactic is often exploited by scammers and bogus scientists when they want to persuade us that a relationship exists between two variables without providing supporting evidence. In order to secure ourselves from falling for all the nonsense...
However, such a method either destroys or lowers its scientific status.” These criteria make it hard for pseudosciences such as astrology or dowsing to be considered science.
Willis, Roy. and Curry, Patrick . Astrology Science and Culture. Pulling Down the Moo. (Oxford: Berg 2004)
To me Pseudoscience is a hypothesis that just has information added to it over time. There would be no actual data that proves something. What I understand is that it is built off the beliefs of people and there is absolutely no way to prove if the suggested hypothesis or theory actually is relevant.
The basic astrological assumptions are not hard to grasp. For if astronomy is the study of the movements of the heavenly bodies, then astrology is the study of the effects of those movements. The astronomers of the ancient world assumed a division of the universe whereby the superior, immutable bodies of the celestial worlds ruled over the terrestrial or sublunary sphere, where all was mortality and change. It was assumed that the stars had special qualities and influences which were transmitted downwards upon the passive earth, and which varied in their effect, according to the changing relationship of the heavenly bodies to each other. They were led to postulate a single system in which the seven moving stars or planet shifted their position in relation to the earth and each other, against a fixed backcloth of the twelve signs of the zodiac. There is nothing obscure about these general assumptions.
Their first criterion deals with the testability of the therapy or treatment. Valid scientific treatments have the ability to be thoroughly examined. If a therapy or treatment cannot be tested, it is not credible. Many pseudoscience therapies claim to have proven and verifiable results. However, the claims are not founded on experiment based evidence (Fin, Bothe and Bramlett, 2005, p. 173). In their second claim, Fin, Bothe and Bramlett (2005) address the adaptability of a treatment method when conflicting evidence is presented (p. 173) . This claim, much like the first claim, deals with the evaluation of the therapy. In true scientific treatment, the goal is to provide valid therapies. Thus, any scientific evidence that differs from the original research is thoughtfully analyzed and, changes or corrections are made when necessary (Fin, Bothe and Bramlett, 2005, p. 173). The third criterion deals with verifiable evidence. It is important for treatments to be assessed in a way that allows for the possibility of failure and, when contradictory evidence is discovered, it cannot be ignored. Pseudoscientific treatments often ignore contradictory evidence and base their claims solely on confirming evidence. (Fin, Bothe and Bramlett, 2005, p. 173). Criterion four offers insight on narrative based evidence. The positive claims associated with pseudoscience are...
...hat there is no clear way to prove it or disprove it yet with research we have today. More research in the field is required to learn whether or not the concept is true. It seems that this century old debate will continue on for who knows how many years.
Believe it or not, there is still a small group of people who believe this. One claim made by an article supporting this is that it is proven that the Earth is not round, which qualifies it as pseudoscience. This article says, “…explores several more modern proofs that the Earth is not spinning, rotating, revolving, tilting, wobbling, or shooting through infinite space as NASA has brainwashed us to believe.”(Proof the Earth Is Not Spinning, Rotating, or Revolving) This qualifies as pseudoscience because it talks of proof rather than
The zodiac calendar is an astrological theory that divides the path that the sun seems to follow around the earth into twelve equal sections, each of which are associated with a sign, a symbol and a personality type. John Gardner embraces this astrological theme in his parallel novel, Grendel, by connecting each of the twelve chapters to its coinciding zodiac.
There are many companies and individuals that make pseudoscientific claims. A pseudoscientific claim is when a company or individual makes a claim, belief, or practice and presents it as scientific, but which does not adhere to the scientific method. A good example of a pseudoscientific claim is when a company states that taking their product results in rapid weight loss or rapid muscle gain.
Pseudoscience is almost science, and presents its self as scientific but doesn’t have facts or proof that follows the scientific method. There’s very vague proof of some ideas and some are unprovable claims. Pseudoscience is common in many places and over a vast diversity of ideas and that’s why it’s difficult to understand the history of pseudoscience. It still survives although many ideas have unprovable claims.
Some more forms of divination are: chiromancy or palmistry, and onomancy. Scrying, where you tell a future from a globe ball, remained popular too, but were much more likely to draw he church’s suspicion if a practitioner didn’t have a powerful patron. Physiognomy is the study of the similarities of psychological traits by facial features or body structure. It was paid attention to people who considered it both a way of telling apart a person/personality by appearance and as a method of divination.
My belief is that the nature of our behavior is based on astronomy; hence the reason that people who share the same zodiac sign have very similar characteristics, and sometimes a combination of people with certain zodiac signs cannot get along or are very compatible. Sometimes I can tell from a person’s sign because of their behavior, and likes and dislikes. Learning more about astrology and the zodiac signs helps us to understand people and their actions. Many argue that it is coincidence, but the odds are too high to be that.
When people believe in astrology, what they believe is that the planets and stars directly or indirectly influence their lives and determine what happens to them in life. (Weblinkers.com Enterprises, p.1) The stars are said to show guidance and meaning for the lives of people. (Woolfolk, p.297)
In " An Astrologer’s Day", an astrologer meets a stranger and tells his fortune. Surprisingly, the "fake" astrologer managed to tell what was true for the stranger. Then, it is only when the astrologer reveals his secret, did we know how his "magic" worked.