Download Air Signs Libra, Aquarius, Gemini

Christine Adams
Holly Deegan
Jill Castellano
Mary Mccartney
Astrology
The science of astrology is in understanding how the movement of the
planets and stars relate to human behavior. To understand this, astrologers use
astrological charts or simply put a birth chart. This chart is a map of universe made for
the location, date, and time each person was born. By understanding the position of the
sun, planets, and the zodiac signs during that day, the astrologer uses this map explain
such things as ambition, career, and public image (Gerwick-Brodeur and Lenard pg. 4).
“Early astrologers identified twelve lunar cycles (i.e., months) for the sun to return to its
original position. They then identified twelve constellations that they observed were
linked to the progression of the seasons and assigned them names of certain animals and
person. The signs of the zodiac are subdivided into four groups:
Fire Signs
Aries, Sagittarius, Leo
Water Signs
Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces
Air Signs
Libra, Aquarius, Gemini
Earth Signs
Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo
(www.astrologers.com/html/history.html).” Throughout the course of history
astrology has played a role in many different societies and it is still playing a part in our
society today. Currently there are 700 hundred phone numbers for physic advising based
on astrological signs.
The history of astrology can be dated back over 2000 years ago during the time of
the Babylonians. (http://skepdic.com/astrology.html). When we take a look at the history
of astrology there is three main areas worth exploring. Theses are the Babylonian
Beginnings, the Greek and Roman Times, and the Zodiac and Horoscopes Foundation.
The first real record of astrology is found within the time period of the
Babylonians. Babylonians used astrological charts to predict different things. These
charts helped them predict the recurrence of the seasons and certain celestial events.
(http://www.astrologiers.com/html/history.html) though not everything is known about
the Babylonians use of astrology, they do know that “ while earliest astrology was used to
bring a sense of order out of apparent chaos, it soon utilized to predict weather patterns,
primarily for agricultural purposes.” (http://www.astrologiers.com/html/history.html).
While the Babylonians experienced much success with astrology, the Greeks and Romans
helped define what it is today.
Although the birth of astrology is credited to the Babylonians, the most
common association is linked to the Greeks and Romans. The Babylonians first
introduced the Greeks and Romans to astrology in 4th century BC and “through the
studies of Plato, Aristotle, and others, astrology came to be highly regarded as a science.”
(http://www.astrologiers.com/html/history.html). At its peak, astrology was used by
every type of person in every social status and was used in every branch of ancient
culture. Many famous Greek philosophers wrote colossal works on astrology, one of the
most important being the work written in the 2nd century AD by Ptolemy. His work, The
Almagest and The Tertabiblos are the most complete written records of ancient
astronomy and astrology that we have to date
(http://www.astrologiers.com/html/history.html). On a side note the Greeks are also
famous for using the word zodiac, which represents “An imaginary band of sky that
follows the Sun's annual path as seen from Earth. In astrology, the band is divided into
twelve equal parts, each containing a different astrological constellation. The word zodiac
comes from the Greek word zodiakos, which literally means circle of animals
(www.horoscopes.com).”
Astrology has also been observed in the present. On www.skedic.com it says that
“Even the former First Lady of the United States, Nancy Reagan, and her husband,
Ronald, consulted an astrologer while he was the leader of the free world
(www.skepdic.com/astrology.html) In many different areas of the world people use
astrological charts to predict future events and to better understand themselves. Zodiac
signs and horoscopes have become a common tool for self understanding and choosing a
life path. The credit for the word comes from the Greek word horoskopus, which means,
“I observe the hour” or “I watch what rises.” This refers to “the art of predicting the
general patterns that are preprogrammed in a person’s future life based on an examination
of the celestial bodies that were coming over the horizon in the east at the time and in the
place he or she was born.” (Behind the Crystal Ball, pg.22)
The question raised in this paper is whether or not Astrology is a pseudoscience or
science. There are several concepts that demonstrate astrology as a pseudoscience.
These concepts are consistency, evidence, experimentation, and its ability to be corrected.
Consistency is one factor used to prove that astrology is a pseudoscience.
Astrological predictions are not consistent. A real life example of this would be to go on
to the Internet and get your daily horoscope. Each site has a different prediction for your
day. Therefore predictions are not consistent. “To qualify as a scientific theory, an idea
has to be logically consistent, both internally (all of its claims must be consistent with
each other) and externally (unless there are good reasons, it must be consistent with
theories which are already known to be valid and true). “If an idea is inconsistent, it is
difficult to see how it actually explains anything at all, much less how it could possibly
be true.”(Cline, sec. 2) According to these standards, astrology is not consistent on either
level. Evidence is another way of determining whether astrology is a science or
pseudoscience. “If a theory is not based upon evidence and cannot be empirically
verified, there is no way to claim that it has any connection with reality.”(Cline, sec.4) It
is hard to view astrology as a valid form of science when there is no real evidence that its
claims are true.
A point to ponder is that there is no real way to experiment to see if astrological
claims are true or not. There can be several different horoscopes for ones sign on any
given day; the whole process of determining what ones day holds follows no particular
path. If there is not one way in which astrologers reach their conclusions, then it is
something that becomes almost impossible to put to a test.
Another way to distinguish whether astrology is a science or pseudoscience to test
whether or not it can be corrected. Science is “susceptible to correction due to new
information, either from experiments done for the theory in question or done in other
fields”. (Cline, sec. 7) Over time, astrology has not proven to be correctable. Through
research it has been determined that nothing has changed about the techniques astrologers
use to come to their predictions, and the traits for the different zodiac signs have all
remained similar to their original patterns.
If we look back at the history of Astrology we might be able to look at it as they
did which was a science. Astrology was first used as a science to study the "wandering"
stars. During ancient times astronomy and astrology were considered one science.
Pythagoras studied and taught astrology and his major contribution to astrology was in
the theory that the basis of the Universe was number and numerical relationships
(Gerwick-Brodeur and Lenard pg 10). Whether his theory was ever tested and proved
correct is unknown.
The scientifically observations of astrology is responsible for our calendar and the
number and names of each day of the week (Gerwick-Brodeur and Lenard pg.6). The
reason why there are seven days in a week is actually because that’s how many planets
could be seen during ancient times.
Astrologers were some of the best educated people, having to understand
astronomy, math, and psychology and until about the 1600's astrology was taught in the
universities. We are unsure whether or not universities considered it a science. Famous
astrologer, Isaac Newton, studied the stars and the planets and believed that there was a
larger relationship between everything( Gerwick-Brodeur and Lenard pg. 10). Today
there are physicists that currently believe that astrology reveals the order underneath what
is shown on the surface. David Bohm, who worked with Einstein, is responsible for that
theory. His theory explains how “the inner and outer reality are connected, by understand
that energy, matter, and meaning are enwrapped together (Gerwick-Brodeur and Lenard
pg. 8).”
As of today astrology isn’t recognized today by many scientists as a "rational"
science because it does not follow the scientific method. In addition there are many forms
and uses of astrology, making it difficult for astrologers to come to a general conclusion
of which method of astrology is more or less precise.
Astrology is something that is up to each individual to decide if they want to
believe or not. It continues to be something that has held the interests of people through a
long period of history. In our observations there seems to be a lot of evidence pointing
toward astrology as a pseudoscience, but just because something cannot be proven does
not that it is not valid.