Some philosophers assert that astrology is a false theory. The simplest way to argue against all astrology is to identify a proposition that any kind of astrology must be committed to and then show that this proposition is false. In this paper I draw attention to some misconceptions about which propositions are essential to astrology.

The reflections that follow are offered within the esoteric framework articulated by H. P. Blavatsky and developed by Alice A. Bailey under the guidance of the Tibetan Master Djwhal Khul. Some of the conclusions suggested here draw together hints and analogies scattered throughout the Bailey material and are presented as a consideration of implications already implicit in that teaching, particularly where Master DK indicates that present astrological methods are provisional and subject to future rectification. The suggestions made are offered as (...) working hypotheses for dialogue within the esoteric and academic field. The paper does not seek to revise or challenge orthodox astronomy, biology, or medicine on their own terms, but to explore the internal coherence and implications of an esoteric cosmology that proceeds from different premises and addresses a different order of causation. (shrink)

This article undertakes the first comprehensive analysis of John Pecham’s Quaestiones disputatae de stellis, composed in early January 1271, situating the text within the intellectual and institutional context shaped by the Paris condemnation of 1270. Concentrating on Questions 1 to 4, the study elucidates Pecham’s tripartite division of events into natural, voluntary, and extraordinary, a conceptual scheme that informs both his refutation of astrological determinism and his broader critique of astrology as science. This distinction provides the foundation for Pecham’s (...) account of astral causation and his redefinition of celestial bodies as mere signs (natural, accidental, or mirabilia), rather than genuine efficient causes. His defence of human freedom, in turn, leads him to formulate an interconnected treatment of bodily disposition, predestination, fate, grace, and providence, engaging directly with the central theological debates of the early 1270s. By examining the Quaestiones in the context of Pecham’s wider works, including his Quodlibeta, the Quaestiones disputatae de anima, and the Tractatus de anima, this article offers the first sustained scholarly analysis of the Quaestiones disputatae de stellis, considering that they may constitute a deliberate intervention into contemporary discussions on astrological determinism in the immediate aftermath of Tempier’s 1270 condemnation. (shrink)

Modern theories do not agree on the origin of consciousness—whether experiences of “what it is like” emerge from the actions of neural structures or from the combined or de-combined properties of matter or mind. The astrological model deserves closer study as an alternative explanation of consciousness as adaptation. Its unique concept of the native protagonist, its grounding in structural realism, and its analogical taxonomy of properties suggest a falsifiable theory with extraordinary reach into the subjective character of lived experience. We (...) attempt to close epistemic gaps in how to think about consciousness and to also resolve important problems in astrology. As a proof-of-concept, we report on empirical evidence from our companion pilot study (published separately) in which we use AI models as inference engines to autonomously replicate the findings of previous Vernon Clark tests with robust improvements. We find that most of the AI models succeed in the Clark test and that some are hundreds-fold more adept at guessing the consciousness of lived experience than others. (shrink)

Astrology research has been using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the understanding of astrological properties and processes. Like the large language models of AI, astrology is also a language model with a similar underlying linguistic structure but with a distinctive layer of lifestyle contexts. Recent research in semantic proximities and planetary dominance models have helped to quantify effective astrological information. As AI learning and intelligence grows, a major concern is with maintaining its alignment with human values and intentions. (...) Astrology has an extensive background and theory on how different values and expressions of intelligence are resolved. As AI learns to interact with improved astrological models backed by evidence, the integration could produce a stable and insightful alignment of the two disciplines. (shrink)

This Chapter 3 takes a closer look at how astrology and astronomy, once indistinguishable, were deemed capable of predicting future events or the future of a human life. The two disciplines emerged in remote antiquity, most notably in Mesopotamia but also in ancient Egypt. By observing celestial phenomena such as the paths of planets and stars, it was believed that one could foretell future events both in human societies and in individual lives. The disciplines spread to the Greek world (...) in later centuries in the form of horoscopes predicting the fate of a given person. However, the scientific revolution that took hold in the sixteenth century introduced a clear distinction between astrology as a divination art and astronomy as a science describing the movements of celestial bodies. Astronomy became a leading science, achieving major discoveries such as those of Kepler and Newton, whereas astrology was increasingly rejected. Yet, in the twentieth century and especially since the 1950s, there have been ever more attempts at a scientific demonstration of the validity or invalidity of astrology, and we examine their findings. We also try to identify the reasons why astrology, despite its rejection on scientific grounds, retains a strong worldwide appeal. (shrink)

Two of the most relentless astrology critics presented their case in an article published in this journal that has since become a standard reference. The authors argue that the astrological experience is more likely to work by 'hidden persuaders' than by either objective or psychic criteria, yet their argument provides no evidence of this. The authors demand careful testing yet their own examples and claims against astrology are not careful. The meta-analysis claim mixes studies with widely disparate data (...) types. The parental tampering argument against Michel Gauquelin's planetary eminence findings lacks supportive evidence. The 'definitive' time twins test fails to define the criteria of resemblance. The test of predicting psychological test profiles does not discriminate between permanent personality dimensions and psychological states as astrology requires. The blind chart matching studies evaluated skills on the wrong parties where they would not be expected by either astrology or psychology. The authors fail to mention the most interesting and promising peer-reviewed astrological research studies that were available to them. Improved discourse with astrological subject matter experts is recommended. (shrink)

This article examines the late-medieval plague tractate by Augustine of Trento, an Augustinian friar who addressed the matter of plague before the Black Death of 1347/1348. I will investigate Augustine’s astrological approach to the prognostication, prevention, and cure of the plague epidemic. Further, I will compare his work to the Compendium medicinalis astrologiae, composed by the Dominican Niccolò de Paganica in 1330, and to the consilia produced by the master of medicine Gentile da Foligno in 1348. This double comparison will (...) help to better understand the shared intellectual milieu and the different approaches of these three authors. (shrink)

Abstract -- Most research reviews are concerned with empirical findings. This one takes astrological concepts and principles, the ideas on which astrology is based, and submits them to critical evaluation. It covers recent shifts in astrological ideas, how astrologers avoid dealing with criticism, and the problems associated with (in turn) the fundamental assumptions of astrology, the origins of astrological ideas, modern psychological astrology, astrological world views, astrological symbolism, non-falsifiability, and magical influences. To be plausible astrology needs (...) sound ideas with sound origins, and sound methods for verifying those ideas. But none of the possible origins of astrological ideas (revelation, paranormal, analogy, observation, theory) are plausible. Astrologers can explain away wrong chart interpretations by blaming the symbolism, inadvertently left out factors (such as an asteroid) method, data, the astrologer or the client. They can also dismiss the interpretation as misguided (it used to be visible events, now it is invisible inner meaning). So astrologers could never know if astrology was wrong or which of their explanatory theories could actually apply. Central ideas such as "as above so below" and "inter-connectedness" and the "whole chart" are too poorly developed to amount to anything useful. There is little agreement on many basic issues and on how to resolve differences among astrological techniques and ideas. Astrological symbolism is unsystematic and based on metaphors, analogies, verbal associations, word play, and mythology, which are developed in different ways by different astrologers with no clear way of evaluating them. The philosophies and worldviews associated with astrology are underdeveloped or poorly described. Consequently astrology does not have the resources to put its house in order. Astrology seems quite unlikely to deliver anything beyond what non-astrological factors (eg cognitive and perceptual biases) can account for. With copious quotes from leading astrologers and nearly 250 references. (shrink)

As it has been shaped by improvements in its tools and methods, and by its discourse with critics, I describe how the astrological research program has advanced through three stages of modelling and design limitations. Single-factor tests (for example, the many Sun-sign–only experiments that have been published) are typically underdeterministic. Multi-factor tests, unless they are very well designed, can easily become overdeterministic. Chart-matching tests have been vulnerable to confirmation bias errors until the development of a machine-based, whole-chart matching protocol that (...) has objectively produced evidence of high effect-sizes. A meta-analysis of recent results shows the rapid advancement and how to further improve the results. The value of the program is not only to corroborate the taxonomic counterfactuals of astrological “cookbooks,” but to extend their explanatory reach by the comparison of astrological postulates and inferences with philosophies in other disciplines in terms of quantifiable processes and emergent effects. (shrink)

This investigation is undertaken within the framework of the esoteric astrology presented through Alice A. Bailey and the Tibetan teacher Djwhal Khul, whose writings provide the primary conceptual foundation for the questions explored here. Modern esoteric astrology represents a progressive unfolding: Alan Leo was a principal initiator of the movement from predictive astrology toward the study of character and evolutionary development; Dane Rudhyar developed the birth chart as an archetypal pattern of becoming; and Bailey/DK extended the field (...) into a presentation of astrology as a science of soul purpose, rays, initiation, and planetary relationships. Within this context, esoteric rectification becomes the search for the true symbolic signature of incarnation. The history of modern astrology can be viewed as a gradual movement from the interpretation of celestial influence as external fate toward an understanding of astrology as a symbolic language of consciousness, evolution, and purpose. This transition did not occur through a single revelation, but through a succession of individuals who prepared different aspects of the field. (shrink)

This paper presents a mathematical formalization of divination by integrating two major systems: astrology and tarot. Astrology is modeled as a set of continuous variables determined by planetary positions, while tarot is treated as a discrete symbolic system with probabilistic selection. By combining the astrological horoscope vector with the symbolic draw of tarot cards, a hybrid model emerges that embodies both determinacy and chance, structure and randomness. The study demonstrates that divinatory practices, often dismissed as non-scientific, can be (...) reinterpreted through formal logic and mathematics, revealing their dual nature as cultural practice and logical structure. (shrink)

Johannes Müller von Königsberg (1436-1476), better known as Regiomontanus, is widely considered as the most influential astronomer and mathematician of 15th-century Europe. He was active as an astrologer and deemed astrology to be the queen of mathematical sciences. Despite this, Regiomontanus's astrological activity has yet to be fully explored. A brief examination of Regiomontanus's manuscripts shows that his astrological interests were accompanied by interests in the arts and in methods of prognostication. This article studies an unconventional astrological-chiromantical text, whose (...) relevance is threefold: a) it sheds new light on Regiomontanus's astrological interests; b) it enriches our knowledge of Regiomontanus's efforts to learn and understand Greek-Regiomontanus transcribed it into his own manuscript during his sojourn in Italy from 1460-1467; and c) it is the sole extant text in the Greek tradition that provides a system for prognostication from the study of a person's hand, the parts of which are considered as being under the domain of planets. The article provides an English translation of Regiomontanus's transcription, alongside a brief commentary, and studies the intellectual and historical context of that production through manuscript analysis. (shrink)

A critique of popular astrology. The critical examination outlines a number of serious concerns with the theory underlying astrology.

Scholarly attempts to analyze the history of science sometime suffer from an imprecise use of terms. In order to understand accurately how science has developed and from where it draws its roots, researchers should be careful to recognize that epistemic regimes change over time and acceptable forms of knowledge production are contingent upon the hegemonic discourse informing the epistemic regime of any given period. In order to understand the importance of this point, I apply the techniques of historical epistemology to (...) an analysis of the place of the study of astrology in the medieval and early modern periods alongside a discussion of the “language games” of these period as well as the role of the “archeology of knowledge” in uncovering meaning in our study of the past. In sum, I argue that the term “science” should never be used when studying approaches to knowledge formation prior to the seventeenth century. (shrink)

The article I wrote on the astrology research program (2022) has drawn criticism from G. Dean and I. Kelly (2023) that scarcely touches on my topics of effect sizes in single-factor, multi-factor, and automated whole-chart experimentation. They ignore the meta-analysis of current research and my explanation of emergent effects. Instead they try to impugn all of astrology by arguments that date from the time of Cicero and Augustine.

We present our Special and General Epigenetic Theories of Astrology based both on the most recent genetic research and on authors Cicero, Ptolemy, Sahl, Ezra, Morin, Selva, and Weiss. Key words: astrology; natal horoscope; epigenetics; genetics; DNA; methylation; environment; human development; thought experiment; determinism; free will; quantum indeterminacy; controlled variables; independent variable; dependent variable; general and special epigenetic theories of astrology.

This article argues that popular personality systems endure because they operate as narrative identity technologies: structured symbolic instruments through which people name themselves, organize experience, imagine futures, evaluate relationships, and perform recognizable identities in public. The article does not defend astrology, numerology, MBTI-style typology, the Enneagram, or archetypal branding as equivalent to psychometric science. Its central claim is narrower and more useful: even where symbolic systems fail as predictive science, they may still function as cultural technologies of self-description. The (...) modern self is not merely discovered; it is authored, narrated, branded, categorized, optimized, and displayed. Personality systems persist because they offer compact vocabularies for this work. The analysis brings narrative identity theory, identity-based motivation, the sociology of self-presentation, psychological essentialism, Barnum-effect research, archetypal media theory, astrology scholarship, branding studies, and digital identity research into one controlled framework. It separates empirical validity from symbolic utility, and it distinguishes personality science from identity practice. A Big Five trait model may be stronger as measurement, while a typology may be more memorable as a social script. Astrology may fail as a causal map of character, while zodiac language may still provide a shared grammar for uncertainty, desire, attraction, ambition, and self-explanation. Archetypes may be weak as universal psychological essences, while remaining powerful as repeatable narrative roles in brands, avatars, and strategic self-fashioning. The article’s contribution is a layered model of personality systems as identity technologies. These systems translate complexity into type, turn ambiguity into story, convert private experience into shareable symbols, and help individuals build avatars across social, romantic, professional, and algorithmic environments. The conclusion is not that all systems are equally true. It is that modern identity culture requires tools, and symbolic systems survive when they help people perform the difficult labor of becoming legible to themselves and to others. (shrink)

In this paper, I draw attention to a revolution in the metaphysical commitments of Western astrology. Although I do not wish to promote astrology, I propose a rational route to this revolution. But there is a strong argument, from a Popperian perspective, that my proposal fails to establish rationality. I then consider whether we should say that astrology is either false or unfalsifiable, drawing attention to some surprising findings from schizophrenia research. Also, in a footnote I present (...) “Tompkins’ paradox.”. (shrink)

● Much more relevant than the simplicity or complexity of a method of measuring the houses is whether such a division remains true to the physics of the sky (i.e. whether it makes any sense at all). ● Because astrology has no central institution to decide what is valid and what is not, we believe that the least astrologists should do is to respect the truths confirmed by science. Physics teaches that we cannot separate time from space or space (...) from time, for they stand in an unbreakable or indissoluble relationship which we call continuum, a plane made up of four dimensions (i.e. the three of space plus the one of time) regarded as spacetime, and that time is not absolute but relative (dependent on frames of reference). ● Astrology — which is not horoscopism but one of the consequences of physics — appeals to different methods of measuring segments of our horizon known as houses, sectors, or regions and has classified them into space-based measurements and time-based measurements (according to which of the two concepts decides the subdivision of the diurnal arc), but said classification is impertinent according to the reality that governs us. ● One that can be confirmed to be compatible with our reality is to be employed at all times for all types of charts, that is to say, one that is truly or essentially spacetime-based without, at the same time, presenting any of the errors characteristic of other house systems. We will see that only one will be compatible with relativity, for while the others would have us believe that time is absolute, the Placidus method of house measurement will show us that it is relative. ● The difference lies in the ability of a method to recognise the different ascensional times of not only the twelve segments of our ecliptic at different latitudes but also of each degree of said circumference simultaneously and uninterruptedly, that is, temporally simultaneously and spatially uninterruptedly during their trajectories from the horizon (ASC) to the midheaven (MC). We concluded, based on the house cusp analysis, that only the Placidean formula can carry out this promise, that is, make it possible to measure the lengths of time under said conditions. ● While the Alcabitius and Koch measurements of time assign fictional speeds — i.e. times of oblique ascension — to all degrees contained between the horizon (ASC) and the midheaven (MC), Placidus takes care to measure the speeds or true times for all. The measurement most Newtonian of all the methods of house division, Regiomontanus, in turn, clings to space at the expense of time, the reason for which it cannot reflect the true positions of the planets in spacetime (ignores the relationship between space and time). ● During the demonstrational process, we take the opportunity of pointing out that velocity (special relativity) and gravity (general relativity) do not constitute the only — two — primary forms of time dilation. The tilt of a reference frame relative to another (that of Earth relative to the plane of our ecliptic, although velocity remains a variable, whereas gravity, in turn, a possibility we will explore in the appendices) constitutes the third form. ● We encourage any physicist and/or astronomer to corroborate our observations with their own tools. For our part, we have employed the astrological/astronomical software Solar Fire Gold, although the astrographs come from the astrological/astronomical software Janus. (shrink)

In his The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Milan Kundera describes how he was fired from his job and secretly wrote astrology columns. I register a puzzle that various readers should feel about this information, owing to the distinctive style of Kundera: how can this be kept a secret? I also propose solutions.

A critique of the assumptions underlying contemporary Western astrology.

An in-depth critique of the assumptions and claims of contemporary natal astrology.

Originating in the field of biology, the concept of the hybrid has proved to be influential and effective in historical studies, too. Until now, however, the idea of hybrid knowledge has not been fully explored in the historiography of pre-modern science. This article examines the history of pre-Copernican astronomy and focuses on three case studies—Alexandria in the second century CE; Baghdad in the ninth century; and Constantinople in the fourteenth century—in which hybridization played a crucial role in the development of (...) astronomical knowledge and in philosophical controversies about the status of astronomy and astrology in scholarly and/or institutional settings. By establishing a comparative framework, this analysis of hybrid knowledge highlights different facets of hybridization and shows how processes of hybridization shaped scientific controversies. (shrink)

The inclusion of De astrologia in the Lucianic corpus has been disputed for centuries since it appears to defend astrological practices that Lucian elsewhere undercuts. This paper argues for Lucian’s authorship by illustrating its masterful subversion of a captatio benevolentiae and subtle rejection of Stoic astrological practices. The narrator begins the text by blaming phony astrologers and their erroneous predictions for inciting others to “denounce the stars and hate astrology” (ἄστρων τε κατηγοροῦσιν καὶ αὐτὴν ἀστρολογίην μισέουσιν, 2). The narrator (...) assures readers that he, the knowledgeable astrologer, will correct for the “stupidity and laziness” (ἀμαθίῃ καὶ ῥαθυμίῃ, ibid.) that bring about false predictions. The narrator’s credibility quickly decays when he attempts to recast Orpheus, Bellerophon, Icarus, Daedalus, and a host of other mythological figures as Greek astrologers. Lucian’s audience would expect such far-fetched interpretations of myth from the stereotypical Stoic philosopher, a character lampooned elsewhere in the Lucianic corpus. (shrink)

Written in response to the need for a theory of astrology, Environmental Cosmology attempts to find common ground that can realign the discourse between science and astrology. Skeptical views of astrology are critically examined for faulty assumptions and misunderstandings. Theory is developed through axioms and rational concepts based upon the physical structures of cycles. The relevant cosmology refers to the properties of the things and places that come to our conscious awareness of what it is like for (...) each of us to observe something from our own microcosmic center of the universe. This necessarily entails a consideration of astrology and correlative worlds. In contrast to how astrology is typically described as "influences," this approach uses a framework of alternating equality and extremes that relates mind to the cosmological order. For astrological 'natives' environmental interactions and properties are modeled as categories of urges, values, intentions, and skills. (shrink)

This book addresses the challenge of understanding human life. It compares our life experience with the attempts to grasp it. The main opposition among these specialities lies between understanding and misunderstanding. The book also addersses the central methodological difficulty of capturing a human life. It is first examined how certain appraoches may lead to a misunderstanding. The book contrast the example of astrology-an accepted practice in ancient civilizations, but now classified among the pseudosciences-with astronomy, a full fledged science since (...) Galileo's time. Another more recent approach regards human life as predetermined by genes: the methods used by eugenicists, and later by political regimes under the name of hereditarianism, came to compete with genetics. A broader analysis shows how astrology and eugenicism are not truly scientific approaches. Next, the book looks at the ways of capturing an imaginary or real life story. A comprehensive approachwill try to fully understand their complexity, while a more explanatory approach considers only certain specific phenomena. For example demography studies only births, deaths, and migration. Another crucial factor in the collection of life histories is memory and its transmission. Psychology and psychoanalysis have developed different methods to try to explain them. It concludes with a detailed discussion of the concepts and tools that have been propsed in more recent times for understanding the various aspects of life stories: mechanisms, systems, hermeneutics and autonomy. (shrink)

In presenting self-preservation as the most general law of nature, set at the summit of the structure of the natural world, Francis Bacon characterized the universal appe- tite for self-preservation as an innate instinct which, in the case of living beings, is primarily associated with the emotion of fear. Bacon’s philosophy offers several tech- niques of self-care to manage the fear of accidents of fortune from which the existence and well-being of the self is under constant threat. This article reconstructs (...) Bacon’s treatment of divinatory arts and their contributions to self-care. We will explore how he adopts traditional divinatory arts and reforms them: oneirocritics, physiognomy, and astrology. We will contend that Bacon’s approach to divinatory arts as techniques for self-care and the management of fortune shows some salient points shared with his natural philosophy: in both cases, the approach is hermeneutical, with the goal of exerting human power. With regard both to nature and to fortune, however, our power to modify the state of things extends only so far. The range of decisions we can make is not unlimited but encompasses only what is “in our power,” that is, what depends on us. (shrink)

This work describes the main basic concepts of the astrological work of Ptolemy, through an analysis of his Tetrabiblos. Comparing his ideas to those of other authors of his time, it is shown that Ptolemy does not present stoic influences, as claimed by some historians. The conclusion of the article is that the basis of Ptolemy's astrology was Aristotle's physics.

This analysis of Ptolemy's Teatriblos deals with how the social and cultural role of astrology changed between lì and III century a D.: from a practice hard fought, although successful, to a generally accepted branch of knowledge. In Ptolemy's treatise astrology is shown to be not a science but an art: a techne" fallible but not controvertible. As the basis for such a project of reforming common opinion about astrol¬ogy, we find a quiet yielding attitude toward sceptical antidogmatism, (...) and a non-deterministic way of conceiving man 's naturai relationship with heavenly bodies. (shrink)

● Any given placement (e.g. Sun in Taurus; Mars in Capricorn; Mercury in the third house) is necessarily common to tens of thousands of people. Saturn in the ninth house, for example, will not behave the same or produce the same effects in the twenty or one hundred charts in which we find it there. In each case Saturn will behave in accordance with the rest of the astrographic/chart composition (as if we stayed in the same hotel in different epochs (...) or different people contracted the same disease; our stay will be different each time, according to the epoch, and each person’s symptoms will too, be different, according to their individual biochemistry; not to mention that each chart or astrography, like each genetic code or sequence, is unrepeatable). Certainly, “no planet can produce, on its own, what only the combined or concerted action of all can” (BUSTAMANTE, 2023, SPICA magazine, pp. 93-111). Hence the synergistic nature of the interpretative exercise (i.e., the whole is greater than all its parts). The fundamental component of the mathematical expression of the interpretive exercise is: astrological triangulation, the functional denomination for what we know as synthesis (WEISS, 1946; LEO, 1983, HAND, 1981). In order to demonstrate its usefulness, as well as the convenience of its mathematical expression, we have chosen two individuals (JEFFREY DAHMER, STEVEN SPIELBERG) whose astrographies do not—according to the community—explain their lives. The rest of the astrographies correspond to those of serial killers JOHN WAYNE GACY, DAVID CARPENTER, and TED BUNDY. ● We explain, by means of algebraic notations, the synthesis and the functional values that make up the synthesis. ● We take the Moon and Neptune as relevant bodies for the purpose of diagnosing or studying endocrine or neurohormonal issues, and Mars, Pluto, and Saturn as relevant planets for the purpose of inferring violence or sinister behaviour, upon the case, and quadratures or oppositions—and conjunctions—between Venus and the Moon, the Moon and Neptune, and the Sun or Venus and Neptune or Uranus as indicators of neurohormonal disorders and/or sexual deviance (APA definition). ● We consider quadratures (90º) or oppositions (180º)—and conjunctions—between Mercury or the Moon and Saturn, or between Mars or the Moon and Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and/or Pluto as powerful indications of violence or mental disorders, upon the case. ● We have also regarded Sagittarius as a sign as expansive and abundant as its ruler, Jupiter, according to the best of its characterisations (or as an exceptionally swift and wild sign, according to other characterisations), and the fifth region of a natal chart as one closely related to fortune in a broad sense (material and immaterial). ● Because we advocate the idea that orbs should be predicated of the planet (size, speed), not the aspect itself, the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) and the Sun have been granted up to 10º of orb (or 12º, in the case of broad influence ). We understand aspectual relationships as angular relationships held between two or more celestial bodies placed in signs with at least one property in common (according to our molecular theory of the ecliptic, compatible with the optical theory of the aspects from the Hellenistic tradition). (shrink)

The history of the science of the stars (astronomy and astrology) in fourteenth-century Byzantium is significantly intertwined with the implications of theological and philosophical controversies. A less-explored astronomical text authored by the fourteenth-century Byzantine scholar Theorodos Meliteniotes (ca. 1320–1393 CE) provides new historical factors toward a historiography of the differences between scientific and theological discourses, their development in the transition to early modern times, and the different historical developments of science in the worlds of the Eastern and Western Churches.

Nicole Oresme cannot be counted among those late medieval philosophers who fostered a return to Augustine. Nevertheless, quotations from Augustine in Oresme’s works are not just tributes to one of the most outstanding thinkers. Indeed, in Oresme’s anti-astrological works Augustine’s De civitate Dei is one of the most relevant sources, while in his commentary on Aristotle’s Ethica (in its French translation) Oresme’s idea of freedom is largely inspired by Augustine.

Iberian repertorios de los tiempos stemmed from Medieval almanacs and calendars. During the sixteenth century significant editorial, conceptual and material changes in repertorios incorporated astronomy, geography, chronology and natural philosophy. From De Li’s Repertorio (1492) to Zamorano’s Cronología (1585), the genre evolved from simple almanacs to more complex cosmological works which circulated throughout the Iberian-American world. This article claims that repertorios are a form of syncretic knowledge rather than “popular science” by relying on the concept of “knowledge in transit”. Elaborating (...) on this perspective, I present how repertorios ended up delivering a worldview from existing materials, a fact so far unnoticed by scholarship. At the same time, repertorios should not be considered an exclusively Iberian phenomenon, but the full scope of their nature as a form of syncretic knowledge should include their networks with migrants, indigenous, mestizos, and criollos across the Atlantic. In this sense, I try to trace the paths connecting productions in the Americas with Iberian repertorios. (shrink)

The foundational principle of interpreting a configurational schema—such as an astrograph—is its synergistic nature. No isolated placement or single placement within the schema can unilaterally determine an outcome; rather, the result emerges exclusively from the combined and concerted action of all elements. This echoes methodologies in complex, real-world disciplines like medicine, forensic psychology, and jurisprudence, where the integration of all variables yields a final result that transcends a mere aggregation of individual components. An isolated placement is inherently common across a (...) vast population. For instance, a specific planetary position, such as Saturn in the ninth sector, will not manifest identically or produce the same effects across all charts in which it appears. Instead, its expression is necessarily contingent upon the composition of the entire schema, much like how a single disease manifests with unique specificity in different patients. This perspective necessitates a composite analysis or synthetic methodology capable of generating what may be termed configurational or astrographical sequencing. This concept not only captures the holistic spirit of classical interpretive texts—such as Jean-Baptiste Morin’s Astrologia Gallica (1661)—but also provides a framework for establishing specific distinctions between ostensibly similar configurations (e.g., those separated by short temporal intervals). To refine this sequencing approach, we discern between heterogeneous and homogeneous sectors (types 1-6) and propose a two-stage process for delineation: microsynthesis (analysis relative to a specific sector) and macrosynthesis (integration of all twelve microsyntheses relative to the entire schema). (shrink)

Blue (2026) criticizes Ash and Clarke-Doane (2025). Our thesis is that the justification of mathematical axioms relies on reflective equilibrium applied to data about which there is reasonable disagreement, as in philosophy. Blue responds with a survey of the case for Definable Determinacy and a speculative scenario involving Baire category principles, arguing that the analogy breaks down. But Blue’s response rests on a conflation that we took pains to flag -- between agreement over what follows from what and agreement over (...) what non-logical axioms are true. Our concern is emphatically with the latter. Conditional agreement is cheap. Given agreement over logic, one can achieve it in any regimented area, from ethics to astrology. The case that Blue focuses on establishes that a wide variety of sufficiently strong theories imply Projective Determinacy. But getting from those conditional results to the conclusion that Projective Determinacy is true requires appeal to theoretical virtues (naturalness, unification, proof compression) that do not admit of proof, and whose application is reasonably disputed. In this note, I argue that Blue’s paper is, in fact, a detailed case study in the thesis that it attacks. Every element of the argument that he develops -- the crosschecks, theoretical virtues, “intended interpretations,” feedback loop between theorems and philosophical ideas, and even his classification of axiom disputes as “philosophical” or “mathematical” -- exhibits the dependence on non-deductive, non-provable, reasonably disputed considerations that Ash and I argue underwrite foundational inquiry. Blue’s mistake is to think that because these considerations are good --responsive to deep mathematics -- they cease to be philosophical. (shrink)

Between 1980 and 2026, both science and civilization have undergone a profound transformation that may justly be called paradigmatic in Thomas Kuhn’s sense. The mechanistic worldview inherited from early modern physics, atomistic, reductionist, and dualistic, has been increasingly displaced by a processual and relational understanding of nature. Quantum indeterminacy, complexity theory, systems ecology, and planetary science have revealed a universe not of isolated parts but of dynamic wholes. This essay interprets that transformation through two complementary frameworks: Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific (...) Revolutions and Alfred North Whitehead’s Process and Reality. -/- Kuhn describes scientific change as episodic: long periods of “normal science” punctuated by crises and revolutionary restructurings of thought. Whitehead, by contrast, views change as continuous and ontological: the creative advance of the universe through the concrescence of events. Taken together, these models illuminate the evolution of science itself as a process of concrescence; each paradigm a synthesis of inherited order and emergent novelty. -/- The essay situates this epistemic shift within the symbolic rhythm marked by the Saturn–Neptune conjunctions of 1989 and 2026. While not asserting astrological causation, it recognizes in such cosmic alignments a poetic correspondence between celestial and intellectual cycles: the dissolution and reformation of order. The years 1980–2026 thus delineate the interval of a planetary paradigm shift, in which humanity’s scientific consciousness moves from detached observation to participatory understanding. In Whitehead’s terms, the universe, through science, is learning to think itself as process. (shrink)

Scientific models often contain assumptions known not to be true. Despite being false representations, models provide us with a key understanding of phenomena. What is more, the falsehoods that figure in models are in many cases central to them, and there is no available alternative to their use. If falsehoods play such an irreplaceable role in our understanding of phenomena, it would seem that truth is not a key concern of scientific modeling. In this paper, I assess the prospects and (...) challenges of reconciling truth and understanding in scientific modeling. More specifically, I review a thesis recently emerging in the literature, what I shall call the Derivation Thesis (DT), according to which we use models to derive true information. First, I examine different versions of the thesis and develop what I take to be its most promising formulation (what I call the generalized DT). Second, I discuss a serious challenge to the generalized DT. I consider a thought experiment in which an unreliable astrological model gives true explanations by fluke. This scenario challenges the idea that models can provide genuine understanding by generating truths. In response, I argue that genuine scientific models also fulfill a specific normative role that epistemically lucky models lack (what I call the normative generalized DT). I test this hypothesis by analysing how the Ideal Gas Law advances scientific understanding of real gases. (shrink)

It is very well known that from the late-1960s onwards Feyerabend began to radically challenge some deeply-held ideas about the history and methodology of the sciences. It is equally well known that, from around the same period, he also began to radically challenge wider claims about the value and place of the sciences within modern societies, for instance by calling for the separation of science and the state and by questioning the idea that the sciences served to liberate and ameliorate (...) human societies. But what is less known is how, if at all, these two sets of challenges were connected, and why Feyerabend felt it important to raise them at all. In this chapter, my aim is to explore these issues by considering why Feyerabend used radical strategies to challenge the authority of science, and what purpose, if any, they were supposed to serve. Why, for instance, did Feyerabend defend alternative medicine, psychical abilities, astrology, magic and witchcraft and why did he argue that ‘Western science’ is complicit in environmental destruction, intellectual imperialism, social oppression, and spiritual destitution. Located in their historical and political context, such defences and arguments seem peculiar, not least because science was recognised not only as a central site of the intellectual and ideological competition between the West and the Soviet Union, but also because Western victory in that site was considered inevitable. What, then, did Feyerabend think he was trying to achieve by raising radical challenges to a central component of the cultural and intellectual prestige of the Western world grounded in appeals to practices and traditions which most would regard as eccentric at best and absurd at worst? My suggestion is that Feyerabend was making a subtler point than one might suppose. For the purpose of these radical challenges was to determine if the members of Western societies would in fact honour the epistemic standards – of tolerance, critical enquiry – which were identified as being characteristic of science and definitive of the social and political values of Western liberal democracy. I suggest that Feyerabend was trying to demonstrate that scientists were, too often, guilty of the same intolerant and dogmatic attitudes which were, according to prevailing propaganda, the property of illiberal totalitarian societies. Science does not reflect the superior epistemic and political values of Western societies but are, in fact, reflective of the same vices ascribed to the Soviet Union. If that is the case, then the sciences are not symbols of our epistemic and political values, but quite the reverse, hence Feyerabend’s talk of the ‘dogmatic’, ‘totalitarian’, ‘ratiofascist’ nature of modern science. But there is a positive upshot to Feyerabend’s challenge. For even if the sciences do not yet reflect the epistemic and political values of liberal democratic Western societies, they might yet be reformed so that they are. And there is a parallel between Feyerabend’s strategy and that of many of the other radicals of the time – student activists, environmentalists, and pacifists – namely to test the commitment to tolerance and deliberative debate of the establishment by asking it to seriously engage with ideas and convictions opposed to its own. For both science and society can become ‘tyrannical’ through the same means: by exempting themselves from critical scrutiny, by promoting self-serving ‘myths’ about themselves, and by derogating and excluding alternatives, including the ‘outsider’ perspectives they offer. The chapter concludes by suggesting that Feyerabend is distinctive in virtue of his willingness to offer radical criticisms of the authority of science such that it can fulfil its legitimate ideological role – namely, of symbolising and instantiating our core epistemic and political values – such that we can offer a sincere and meaningful answer to Feyerabend’s question ‘what’s so great about science?’. (shrink)

Bu çalışma, Karl Popper’ın yanlışlamacı bilim anlayışı çerçevesinde ad hoc hipotezlerin bilimsel teorilerdeki rolünü ve sözdebilimle olan ilişkisini eleştirel bir yaklaşımla incelemektedir. Ad hoc hipotezler, çoğunlukla bir teoriyi eleştirilerden korumak veya yanlışlanmasını önlemek amacıyla geliştirilen, ancak teorinin genel geçerliliğine yapısal bir katkı sağlamayan düzenlemeler olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Popper’ın bilimsel yöntemi, bilimselliğin temel ölçütü olarak yanlışlanabilirliği esas almakta; bu çerçevede ad hoc hipotezlerin, özellikle sınanabilirlikten yoksun olduklarında, teorilerin bilimsel değerini zayıflatabileceğine dikkat çekmektedir. Makale, ad hoc hipotezlerin bilimsel kullanımına yönelik olumlu ve olumsuz (...) tarihsel örnekleri karşılaştırmalı olarak analiz etmektedir. Einstein’ın kozmolojik sabiti ve Leverrier’in Neptün’ün keşfinde geliştirdiği hipotez, ad hoc yaklaşımların bilimsel ilerlemeye katkı sağlayabileceğini ortaya koyarken; Merkür’ün yörüngesel sapmalarını açıklamak üzere öne sürülen Vulcan hipotezi, başarısız ve doğrulanmamış bir ad hoc müdahale örneği olarak sunulmaktadır. Bu karşılaştırma, ad hoc hipotezlerin bilimselliğe katkısının, yalnızca test edilebilirlik ve ampirik dayanakla desteklenmeleri hâlinde geçerli olabileceğini göstermektedir. Çalışma ayrıca, ad hoc hipotezlerin doğrulamacı eğilimlerle olan ilişkisini ortaya koymakta ve bu tür müdahalelerin Popper’ın karşı-tümevarımcı yaklaşımıyla nasıl çeliştiğini tartışmaktadır. Sözdebilimlerde sıkça rastlanan dogmatik tutumlar ve sistematik ad hoc müdahaleler, bilimsellikten uzaklaşmanın tipik örneklerini teşkil etmektedir. Özellikle astroloji gibi alanlarda, teorilerin çürütücü veriler karşısında sürekli yeni varsayımlarla korunması, eleştiriye kapalı yapılar yaratmakta ve Popper’ın yanlışlanabilirlik ilkesini ihlal etmektedir. Sonuç olarak, bu makale ad hoc hipotezlerin bilimsel yöntemlerde yalnızca dikkatli ve sınırlı biçimde, test edilebilirlik ilkesini zayıflatmadan kullanılmaları gerektiğini savunmakta; Popper’ın bilimsellik kriterlerinin bu bağlamdaki belirleyici rolünü vurgulamaktadır. Aksi hâlde, ad hoc hipotezlerin sistematik kullanımı, bilim ile sözdebilim arasındaki sınırın bulanıklaşmasına yol açmakta ve bilimsel yöntemin temelini oluşturan eleştirel rasyonalizmi zedelemektedir. -/- This study critically examines the role of ad hoc hypotheses in scientific theories and their relation to pseudoscience within the framework of Karl Popper’s falsificationist philosophy of science. Ad hoc hypotheses are commonly developed to protect a theory from criticism or prevent its falsification, yet they are often regarded as modifications that do not meaningfully contribute to the overall validity of the theory. Popper’s scientific methodology places falsifiability at the core of scientific legitimacy, highlighting the risk that ad hoc hypotheses- especially when lacking testability-may undermine a theory’s scientific value. The article offers a comparative analysis of historical examples reflecting both the constructive and problematic uses of ad hoc hypotheses in science. Einstein’s cosmological constant and Leverrier’s prediction of Neptune are presented as instances where ad hoc reasoning contributed to scientific progress. In contrast, the Vulcan hypothesis, proposed to explain the anomalies in Mercury’s orbit, is discussed as a failed and unverifiable ad hoc intervention. These comparisons suggest that the scientific utility of ad hoc hypotheses depends on their empirical testability and evidential support. The study also explores the connection between ad hoc reasoning and confirmationist tendencies, emphasizing how such interventions contradict Popper’s anti-inductivist stance. Pseudoscientific domains are frequently characterized by dogmatic adherence and systematic ad hoc modifications, which insulate theories from falsification. In areas like astrology, the persistent defense of claims through unsupported assumptions exemplifies this trend and violates the principle of critical scrutiny central to Popper’s philosophy. In conclusion, the paper argues that ad hoc hypotheses should only be used with caution and within the boundaries of testability, reaffirming the centrality of Popper’s criterion of falsifiability. Otherwise, the unchecked use of ad hoc reasoning risks blurring the boundary between science and pseudoscience, ultimately undermining the foundations of scientific rationality. (shrink)

Hempel, Popper, and Kuhn argue that to be scientific is to be testable, to be falsifiable, and most nearly to do normal science, respectively. I argue that to be scientific is largely to be interactive, offering some examples from science to show that the ideas from different fields of science interact with one another. The results of the interactions are that hypotheses become more plausible, new phenomena are explained and predicted, we understand phenomena from a new perspective, and our worldview (...) becomes simpler. I also argue that given that the interactions are impressive features of science, astrology and religion would be regarded as science, provided that there are similar interactions in those enterprises. (shrink)

This essay explores the discoved place in human noosphere called as "Cosmos-not-Here," encompassing the speculative realms of science fiction, religious eschatology, and theoretical astrophysics. The content of "Cosmos-not-Here" contrasts with the same of "Cosmos-Here," representing humanity's tangible explorations and mastery of the physical universe. The text delves into how the Cosmos-not-Here operates as a mental construct, offering humanity an imaginative escape into utopian visions and hypertextual narratives, while disregarding the constraints of established physical laws. -/- The discussion emphasizes humanity's innate (...) psychological drive, metaphorically expressed as "forward and upward," linking it to a sacred yearning for cosmic harmony and expansion. This drive manifests culturally in phenomena like Russian aspirations, illustrated by the "Gagarin Smile," and the global fascination with cosmic-themed speculative fiction, games, and spiritual constructs such as astrology. -/- The essay concludes by identifying a universal "Cosmic-We" ethos, characterized by a shared attraction to the cosmos as a concept of transcendence and infinite potential, reflecting humanity's enduring pursuit of meaning beyond the utilitarian confines of terrestrial existence. The analysis reveals the philosophical resonance of this semantic cluster with ancient and medieval cosmologies, suggesting its timeless significance in human thought. (shrink)

According to Thagard, the behavior of practitioners of a field may also be used for demarcation between science and pseudoscience due to its social dimension in addition to the epistemic one. I defended the tendency of pseudoscientists to commit fallacies, and the number of fallacies they commit can be a secondary tool for demarcation problem and this tool is consistent with Thagardian approach. In this paper, I selected the astrology as the case and I revealed nine types of logical (...) fallacies frequently committed by astrologers while introducing their field and/or defending their claims against the scientific inquiries and refutation efforts. I also argued that recognizing these fallacies may help the audience to demarcate between the scientific and the pseudoscientific arguments. (shrink)

The term pseudoscience refers to a highly heterogeneous set of practices, beliefs, and claims sharing the property of appearing to be scientific when in fact they contradict either scientific findings or the methods by which science proceeds. Classic examples of pseudoscience include astrology, parapsychology, and ufology; more recent entries are the denial of a causal link between the HIV virus and AIDS or the claim that vaccines cause autism. To distinguish between science and pseudoscience is part of what the (...) philosopher Karl Popper referred to as the demarcation problem, a project that has been dismissed by another philosopher, Larry Laudan, but that keeps gathering much interest in philosophers, scientists, educators, and policymakers. This entry provides the basics of the debate about demarcation, as well as a brief discussion of why it is of vital importance not just intellectually but for society at large. (shrink)

This article examines the Chinese fandom of Thai Boys’ Love (BL) dramas as a transcultural “contact zone” in which fans negotiate the tensions between homophobic modernity and queer religiosity. Drawing on netnography conducted on Bilibili and Douban (2024–2025), relational interviews, and textual analysis of the dramas To Sir, With Love and I Feel You Linger in the Air, the study develops the concept of “re-enchanted acculturation.” It argues that Chinese fans re-sacralize same-sex desire through religious practices such as astrology, (...) karma, and fatalism, countering the disenchantment and heteronormativity associated with Chinese modernity shaped by scientism and Marxism. At the same time, fans do not simply reject dominant ideologies; rather, they oscillate between secular and religious frameworks, producing syncretic interpretations such as “fannish Marxism.” By extending theories of transcultural fandom, the article demonstrates that fandom operates not as a site of pure resistance or withdrawal but as a dynamic space of negotiation, where dominant and subcultural cultures are rearticulated. It also highlights the “dark dynamics” within this process, including the reproduction of patriarchal and conspiratorial logics. Ultimately, the study argues that re-enchanted acculturation offers a lens for understanding how subcultures survive within—and transform—the “ruins” of modernity, while sustaining queer-inclusive imaginaries in contemporary Chinese society. (shrink)

This paper investigates how later medieval intellectuals dealt with perspectiva – the medieval discipline of optics, which had seen considerable popularity in Latin Europe since the 13th century and was epitomized in several “books of knowledge” of differing scopes, levels of difficulty and intended audience. This paper is focused narrowly on one of these intellectuals – Reimbotus de Castro (fl. 1350s–1380s), who was not only personal physician to the Roman Emperor Charles IV but was also a diligent copyist and abbreviator (...) of many quadrivial and medical texts, and the owner of several codices now kept in the Bibliotheca Palatina. One of these codices, Pal. lat. 1380, includes two optical treatises copied by Reimbot himself. A closer reading of these texts, hitherto unnoticed by historians of medieval science, provides fresh insight into the reception of optical knowledge in the intellectual milieu of Paris in the 1360s, when Reimbot resided here. The first text is Reimbot’s reportatio of lectures on the famous optical textbook Perspectiva communis by John Peckham; the second is Reimbot’s redaction of the unknown optical compendium Perspectiva cum sit una. Finally, this paper addresses the issue of why optics was interesting at all for people at the intersection of the scholarly and courtly communities like Reimbot (and late medieval scholars generally). It is suggested that medieval optics, being useful for astronomical observations, could be considered a sort of auxiliary discipline for astrology and astrological medicine. (shrink)

La Cappella Carafa di Santa Severina, nella chiesa di San Domenico Maggiore a Napoli, era uno dei luoghi preferiti della giovinezza di Giordano Bruno. La sua struttura, che ricorda il teatro di Giulio Camillo, e la presenza di trenta simboli astrologici scolpiti sugli archi, la rendono la “stanza della memoria” ideale per l’applicazione dell’innovativa arte della memoria sviluppata dal filosofo Nolano. -/- The ‘memory place’ of Giordano Bruno. The Carafa of Santa Severina Chapel in the church of San Domenico Maggiore, (...) Naples, was one of the favourite places of Giordano Bruno’s youth. Its structure, similar to that of Giulio Camillo’s theatre, and the presence of thirty astrological symbols carved on the arches, make it the ideal ‘memory place’ for the application of the innovative ‘art of memory’ developed by the philosopher. (shrink)

This Chapter 2 presents an overview of the approaches, some of whose more specific aspects are addressed in greater detail in the following chapters. We begin by noting the widespread practice of the divination arts in both past and present, pointing out their prevalence around the world. We distinguish between the “-logies” and the “mancies,” the former making greater use of techniques closer to those of modern science than the latter. We go on to give the reasons for the closer (...) examination of astrology in Chapter 3. Next, we discuss the history of eugenics, from its ancient roots such as texts by Plato and Aristotle, to the Enlightenment and the writings of early nineteenth-century French physicians. This introduces Chapter 3 on eugenics. Lastly, we examine the various meanings of “freedom,” a concept that Chapter 4 addresses only in its current meaning. The notion emerged in Greece in the eighth century B.C.E. and later in Rome. Its definition at the time was very different from the one assigned to it by the monotheistic religions of the early modern age, i.e., free will. The scientific revolution that developed in the sixteenth century further modified the concept. Descartes gave it a philosophical dimension, while classical liberalism and the industrial revolution gave it a political dimension. (shrink)

This book addresses the challenge of understanding human life. We compare our life experience with the attempts to grasp it by astrologers, eugenicists, psychologists, social scientists, and philosophers. How have these various disciplines sought to give substance to an experience at once so intimate and so universal? The main opposition in the list above lies between understanding and misunderstanding. For example, the astrologers’ and eugenicists’ approach, fully accepted in their day, is now largely viewed as a form of misunderstanding. To (...) show why this is so, we examine their methodology. For practitioners of the other disciplines, their understanding may be limited by various methodological problems they encounter but are trying to overcome. We shall explore these issues as well. (shrink)

Chapter 4 focuses on a more recent period, from the late nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth, when Galton’s eugenics was increasingly recognized and practiced not only by specialized organizations but also by extreme political regimes. The new discipline sought to predict our future life from our genetic endowment at birth. As with astrology versus astronomy, eugenics came to compete with genetics—a product of Mendel’s laws—and we examine how the two disciplines evolved in the early twentieth (...) century. Eugenics became a formidable concept with the advent of fascist and Nazi regimes, which sought to impose the supremacy of certain “races” by eliminating other ethnic groups. World War II ended these regimes, making the promotion of eugenics impossible. However, many former eugenicists such as Osborn continued to pursue the same goals under another label: hereditarianism. We describe the different forms of this theory and show the reasons for their scientific and political failure. (shrink)