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Astrology has not demonstrated its effectiveness in controlled studies and has no scientific validity, [1] [2]: 85 and is thus regarded as pseudoscience. [3] [4]: 1350 There is no proposed mechanism of action by which the positions and motions of stars and planets could affect people and events on Earth in the way astrologers say they do that ...
Although astrology was considered factual predictions in ancient science, in modern times it is used as a spiritual belief system for many people. [15] Ancient forms of astrology often combined with astronomy, but eventually split into separate paths during the time of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo.
Thagard, while demarcating it as a pseudoscience, notes that astrology "should be judged as not pseudoscientific in classical or Renaissance times...Only when the historical and social aspects of science are neglected does it become plausible that pseudoscience is an unchanging category."
Psychological astrology has been criticized for confirmation bias and astrology is widely considered a pseudoscience by the scientific community. [ citation needed ] In psychology and cognitive science , confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions and avoids information ...
Astrology is a pseudoscience and has consistently failed experimental and theoretical verification. [1] [2] [3] Astrology was widely considered a respectable academic and scientific field before the Enlightenment, but modern research has found no consistent empirical basis to it. [4] [3]
This is why some sidereal astrologers, like Chimenti, practice what is called true sidereal astrology, a method that factors in the actual size of the constellations and axial precession.
The term pseudoscience is often considered pejorative, particularly by its purveyors, because it suggests something is being presented as science inaccurately or even deceptively. Therefore, practitioners and advocates of pseudoscience frequently dispute the characterization.
The one thing practically all philosophers agree about is that any meaningful definition of pseudoscience must include astrology. The unusually detailed and nuanced treatment in Paul Thagard's Why Astrology Is A Pseudoscience is particularly worth reading. Hans Adler 23:18, 26 January 2011 (UTC) Hans, that's excellent.