NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/alt/astrolog/2862

Text File | 1993-01-26 | 1.6 KB | 33 lines

Newsgroups: alt.astrology
Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!mercury.unt.edu!vaxb.acs.unt.edu!roy
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: bullshit
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Sender: [e-mail] (UNT USENet Adminstrator)
Organization: University of North Texas
References: <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 13:57:56 GMT

> study of astrology as worthwhile and rewarding. Of course, to do so would
> allow astrology to be subjected to the rigour of scientific enquiry,
> possibly leading to its falsification, so I cannot see too many doing this.
> To those who lead their lives on the basis of the advice of astrologers, I
> offer the following advice: read Karl Popper on the philosophy of science.
> Astrological predictions are framed in such language as to make them
> unfalsifiable, thus rendering astrology as a theory worthless.

Astrlogers have known Popper for a long long time! And by the way, Popper is
outdated (except for the occultists of logical empricism--"old dogs never
die"), his criticism of historicism, Marxism and psychoanalysis is no longer
good philosophy of science/history/social thought but a chapter in the history
of the philosophy of science. The ability to falsify a theory does not
necessarily makes that theory scientific. It is rather the paradigm within
which "normal" science operates that makes the theory scientific.
There was sometime ago an interesting discussion in this list concerning
these matters. Perhaps you can read it in the ftp file. If not read the works
of Thomas Kuhn and the most recent philosophy of science (caos theory, etc).

Regards, Roy