Astrology as a consequence of antropocentric thinking









Last evening, we were laughing and discussing CBS' new show, The Big Bang Theory. I believe Sheldon's retort to Penny about her being a virgo (or whatever sign she indicated) is going to become a classic. She says (quote) "I am a virgo, which probably tells you more about me than you need to know" and he responds "yes, it tells me that you are part of a group of deluded people who think that the position of arbitrary sets of constellations in the sky, relative to the sun at the moment of their birth has influence on their life events" (or something like that). Of course, Penny being blond, she doesn't understand and Leonard saves the moment by saying "we thought you were a water sign".

Jokes aside, this exchange shows the lack of intellectual depth of many current adepts to astrology. And it got me thinking that the reason some people may have thought that the stars had any bearing or effect on their destiny was the thinking (wrong, of course) that the whole universe was created for the benefit of man. Thank religion for that.

This antropocentric view of the world is no longer sustainable in view of our current knowledge of the universe. How can we justify being we so important the whole firmament will align itself this way or that for our benefit?

I will agree that this carachterization I am making of astrology is a reductio ad absurdum. But isn't the whole deal an absurdity?

1 comment:

Luis FIGUEROA said...

What I love about astrology is that there are more than twelve constelations along its line in the sky. he he.