Epistemology of Astrology

The proponents of astrology were of the view that once they gathered information on the sort of things that happen in our life when some particular planet is occupying certain house (segment of the ecliptic belt) for all the houses and all the planets as well as for all the Ascendant Signs; it should be possible for them to predict what should happen in the life of anyone on any future-date by calculating where various planets shall be situated on such date, based on their position at the time of his birth. 

So, they gathered such information from far and near on a war-footing about the type of things that happened when various planets sojourned in each zodiac house and announced that they could, now, forecast the future events based on the position of the stars.

But they were astonished to find that many things did not happen according to the forecasts made by them.  

Though they must have tried to find out the reasons, we don’t know  – how far they should have succeeded.

The fact is – the way, it is not possible to ascertain which line of our palm should be “Knowledge-line” or “Life-line” or whether it is even  possible to find out what could happen in someone’s life by seeing his palm – the story of astrology is also much the same.

It is not, at all, possible to confirm whether the specific aspects of mundane life as conferred by the proponents of astrology have to be taken for granted and if so – on what grounds.

Actually, there is no ground for anything that was devolved to prepare a base for astrology.

For instance, they assumed that the planets that are situated in the first house decide how the native (the person whose astrology is under review) would present himself to others and how they would view him, his demeanour (whether he is shy or confident, for example) or how he would behave in groups and how he would generally view the world – as astrology assumes?

Likewise, the planets in the second house shall affect – how he shall deal with money and how he shall view his self-worth. 

The aspects assigned to various houses is the centrepiece of astrology and if the centrepiece, itself, is under a cloud – just imagine how much we may rely on the technique used to forecast what may happen in our life.

Some other mistakes committed by the proponents of astrology

We don’t know – why the proponents of astrology should not have tagged the “Probability Figures” to the data collected by them related to what sort of things are supposed to happen in anyone’s life under different positions of various planets.

It would have made a big difference if they would have kept records tagging percentages of the observations that conformed to the spelt-out effects of the planets, on the following pattern.

• “Such and such thing” happened in the life of 70 per cent people having “such and such ascendant sign” when, say, Mars was in the first house.
• “Such and such thing” happened in the life of 55 per cent people having the same ascendant sign – when Mars was in the second house.
• “Such and such thing” happened in the life of 60 per cent people having the same ascendant sign –when Jupiter was in the first house.
• “Such and such thing” happened in the life of 75 per cent people having the same ascendant sign – when Jupiter was in the second house and so on for the rest of the planets for the rest of the houses having same Ascendant Sign and on the same pattern – for the people of all other Ascendant Signs.
• If they would have kept a record of the figures of probability also, the astrologers would have been able to calculate – to what extent a prediction could be “relied upon” by their clients. 
• In this case, for instance, if some astrologer would have based his prediction only on the above four observations, the probability of his prediction not going wrong would have been 65 % calculated, as follows.

(70 + 55 + 60 + 75) / 4 = 65%   

If we were to believe in the general concepts of probability it would never touch the figure “100 %”.  

Beside it, as we know – we have made big strides in the modalities of our life.

For instance, people could not have travelled in the past from one place to another place so fast as we can travel, they could not have seen what was happening even in some nearby city – leave alone, to have been able to see what was happening on the other side of the globe – which was not, at all, possible for them when they would have gathered information on what was expected to happen when.

Obviously, it calls for us to refresh the data they had gathered about what effect any planet dwelling in any particular zodiac house may have on the life of the native – periodically.

The type of things that can’t be predicted through astrology 

As you know, astrology works forward from the date and the time of our birth.

So, we have to admit that only such things may be predicted through astrology that depend on the date (and the time) of our birth and the place of our birth – not such things as

• The earthquake that hit Venezuela on August 22, this year (2018). The earthquake did not endanger only the people born on only any specific date or at any specific time. It affected one and all. So astrology is immune to such things.
• The attack on the north tower of the World Trade Centre in New York City in the year 2001 on September 11. Only the terrorists, who had planned the attack, would have known what was going to happen – none else. It took toll of all the people who were inside the tower at that time. Surely, all the people who died would not have born on some day that, according to the astrology, should have made them liable to die on that day – itself. So such events also go beyond the arena of astrology.
• The things that happen due to the faults or vile intentions of the people who do not report to us. For instance, our safety depends on how alert the pilots who may be flying the plane – we are aboard, are. All the people who may have boarded the plane are not expected to have born on a date that would have forebode that the plane they had boarded was going to be hijacked or was going to crash in the air on the way. So, such things also fall out of bounds of astrology.

You don’t have to get too much enamoured by the thought that if despite the fact that astrology leans so much on so many mythological tales, if astrologers can make such damning forecasts as someone seems to have made about a boy who not only wanted to become an engineer, had even joined an engineering college that he shall not be able to pursue his studies till end since some such circumstances shall arise in his family that would compel him to drop his studies half-way – should have come out TRUE because his father died in an accident when he was still only in the second year and there was nobody other than him to have supported his family after the death of his father – why we should not consider astrology as a hall-marked technique?

To think that astrology should be given accreditation based on such exceptional cases is just like thinking that Islam should be recognised as a peaceful religion just because some of the followers of Islam had raised their hands suggesting that it is a peaceful religion, in a public gathering – though it is not.