Astrology
Appeared with the Babylonians, highly developed in Antiquity but also during the Renaissance, astrology long tempted astronomers and mathematicians when the origin of gravitational forces was unknown. Although sometimes based on learned calculations, we now know it has no theoretical foundation and is based on astronomical considerations that are most often erroneous… Classified today by scientists as an obscurantist discipline, it still attracts numerous followers. Why? This is undoubtedly the domain of psychology and… probabilities. Because its only art is to make one believe in the reality of its affirmations.
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Scientists tempted by astrology
Astrology appealed to scientists when the origin of gravitational forces was still unknown. Since the advent of the scientific method, championed by Galileo and Descartes, and Newton's discoveries, it has been no more than an obscurantist pursuit.
The beginnings of astrology
Astrology as we know it today is actually quite recent. It owes more to the Greeks of the Hellenistic and Roman periods than to the remote reaches of antiquity. Let us trace the history of practices often intended to determine the right moment for political decisions.
Using probability to demystify astrology
Astrology has been fostered both by obscurantists, who believe in pseudoscientific laws that can be proven false, and by charlatans who exploit coincidences that are not really coincidences to drum up business. In both cases, probability can expose them.
What is a pseudo-science? Astrology | Tangente
Despite terms borrowed from astronomy, the inconsistencies that emerge when the scientific method is applied to astrology strip it of all credibility. It is what is known as a pseudo-science.
The planets are not to blame: moon and birth | Tangente
Some arguments from astronomy can be set against the beliefs spread by astrology.
Astrological calculations: how consistent are they?
The notion of houses, which originated with the Babylonians, who mainly observed the movements of the stars in the sky as seen from Earth, is an early form of astrology.
Mathematical vs astrological semantics | Tangente
Horoscope advice can seem sensible. Why is that? While advice in objective areas consists solely of tautologies, subjective advice draws on a multiplicity of meanings, allowing clients always to interpret it as they wish.