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Monday, April 18, 2005

Why Astrology is a Pseudoscience

I read a nice article called “Why Astrology is a Pseudoscience" by Paul Thagard. It is part of my Philosophy of science reading. I am trying to understand the scientific processes and how it is similar to or different to the other competing schools of thoughts in explaining the universe. Anyways, I will now give a brief summary of the article.
Astrology is a system of knowledge that mainly tries to predict the personality of a person. Its main tool is the sun sign which is the area of the sky that the sun occupies when the person is born. There are twelve sun signs each corresponding one of the twelve areas the sun has been divided into.
Astrology is a very ancient practice, it is supposed to have started around 2500 years ago and its rules were codified by Ptolemy in 2nd century AD.
Over the years, several scientists have provided multiple reasons for Astrology being a pseudoscience. The author argues that all of these are invalid reasons. Some of the reasons and the authors counter arguments are written bellow
There is no material connection between the celestial objects and the fate and personality of people. But Thagard argues that the lack of physical foundation does not render a theory non scientific, since there are a number of theories that had no physical foundation till recently but were considered scientific. Examples include the continental shift and link between smoking and cancer.
The origin of astrology is in the occult and magic. Thagard argues that this is also not a valid reason since the origin of many science lie in the occult and magic. Examples include the origin of chemistry in alchemy.
People believe in astrology because of their need for comfort. Once again Thagard refutes this argument by stating that why people believe in something is irrelevant since people sometimes believe in good theories for the wrong reason.
Astrology is not testable. Roughly a theory is testable if we can confirm or reject a theory based upon some observation. Thagard argues that although its predictions are vague still we can test their validity on a group of people. In fact the author mentions one such statistical study.
Astrology is not falsible. Falsification is the rejection of a theory and adoption of a better theory. In principle Astrology is falsifiable. In fact Psychology is one such competing theory that attempts to predict the personality of persons.
After providing convincing counter arguments, the author provides his reason for astrology being a pseudoscience. Which is the progressiveness of the practitioners of a theory? Thagard say that a theory is scientific if its practitioners are actively involved in testing, validating and improving a theory. Hence a theory is scientific if it is being updated to give better and better predictions.
Everybody knows that astrologist around the world are still using the rules laid down by Ptolemy. Therefore, astrology is a pseudoscience.


4 Comments:

At 2:27 AM, Blogger Zahid Irfan said...

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At 5:03 AM, Blogger Zahid Irfan said...

"a theory is scientific if it is being updated to give better and better predictions" .. precisely but is it neccessary that we have then better again and again to call it science. But here I agree that it should be repeatable and demonstrable ... anyhow good writing and great reporting .. ways to go...

 
At 10:35 AM, Blogger aimal said...

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At 10:44 AM, Blogger aimal said...

I didn't quite understand your objection. I think what you mean is whether it is necessary to constantly update a theory in order for it to be called a science. Is that what you mean.
Well I am not an expert or anything but from what little I have read the answer is yes. They even say that a theory like astrology was also was once science when people were debating it and improving it. It became a pseudoscience only when "religiously" started learning and practicing astrology.
In fact the most surprising and somewhat disturbing part for me was when I read popper. He says that there is no fundamental difference between religion and science. Both try to explain the world around them. The difference (which is not a small one ) comes from the fact that while in religion some one says this is how and why the world is and everybody has to accept it. While in science I would have a theory , and I would discuss it with people and we would collectively reject the theory or improve it.
Disclaimer: These are not my views, I am merely reflecting the views of others

 

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