Essays on Astrology

According to the “science” of astrology, a person has particular personality traits based on the month, day, time, and place of their birth. While astrologers may defend this ancient craft of divination as science, does astrology merit inclusion in the world of science, disciplines of knowledge that include astronomy, chemistry, biology, physics and many other fields that entail rigorous observation, experimentation, and prediction? Clearly, astrology is a pseudoscience, and Imre Lakatos explains the rationale for its exclusion as legitimate science better than scientific philosophers, Thomas S. Kuhn, or Sir Karl Popper. In order to clarify the demarcation criteria between ...

Gustav Holst was an English composer, arranger and teacher

BIOGRAPHY Gustav Holst was born in England in the city of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on the 21st of September, 1874 in the family of Adolph and Clara von Holst. His father was a professional musician, a talented pianist. Gustav was a weak child and suffered from many diseases. After his father’s second marriage, he was sent to Cheltenham Grammar School (1.The Early Years). Since his youth he has suffered from neuritis in hands, which brought him much pain and trouble. In 1893 he worked as an organist at Wick Rissington in a small Cotswold village. Later he became a ...

Concept of Falsifiability and the History of Science

Falsifiability as a concept in philosophy was introduced by Karl Popper to test scientific concepts. For instance, philosophy is much concerned with determining the manifestation of truth in any accepted fact by employing philosophical methods. On the other hand, science has been in the limelight of investigating the facts using the empirical justification. In this precept, philosophy and science have a common obligation to identify the facts of ideas as presented (Popper 13). According the senses from the concept of falsifiability, every claim that assures truth of any fact must be meticulous and provide every meaning in a way ...

A horoscope is termed as the prediction of an individual’s future, to include descriptions of character and events for a certain period of time (Merriam-Webster: Horoscope). It is based on the position of the planets and the sun, along with the knowledge of the individual’s zodiac sign. There are twelve Zodiac signs or profiles, and one’s Zodiac sign is taken based on one’s date of birth. These signs are distinct from one another, and each has its own characteristics, traits, strengths and weakness. For instance, a person falling under the Zodiac sign of Capricorn (born ...

The Wife of Bath is undoubtedly one of the most interesting characters in the entire collection of Canterbury Tales. She is interesting not only to the readers, but also to the writer himself, Geoffrey Chaucer. The Wife of Bath is the only character to have a prologue longer than their tale. The wife of bath begins by saying that what she is about to say is all meant for entertainment and that no one should take offence. Throughout her tale, she consistently and repeatedly reveals that she is a sly and crafty liar. The reader may question the authenticity of her ...

Falsifiability refers to the logical possibility that certain physical experiments or observations can prove particular assertions to be untrue. If an assertion is false based on observations or given tests then it is falsifiable. This does not necessarily mean that the assertion is false but rather that its falsehood can be proven. For instance, is a claim is made to the effect that ‘no humans live forever’ one cannot prove it to be untrue. This is because to prove that the truthfulness or otherwise of the statement, one would need to observe a human that lives forever in order to affirm ...

Rabbi Maimonides is a medieval Jewish philosopher who wields considerable influence on Jewish thought and on philosophy in general. He also contributed significantly to the codification of the Jewish law. His writings and views hold a prominent place in Jewish intellectual history. In the Guide for the Perplexed, Maimonides explores the concept of God and explains the plausible description of God according to Torah. Maimonides also spends significant amount of time in trying to understand the structure and characteristics of the universe. To this point, it becomes important that Maimonides wrote the book before scientific discoveries, so he draws from Aristotelian ...

The Renaissance was a fascinating time for intellectuals and thinkers, as humanity began to explore ways to make the perfect society outside of the realm of religion. As scientific knowledge began to advance further and further, writers such as Francis Bacon and Thomas More began to write about how these changes were reflecting the ways in which societies were to be constructed. The notion of a utopia – a perfect society – was created, and More and Bacon penned their own visions of utopias that would have a more humanist, scientific basis in their societal construction, rather than religion. Through the work of Thomas More’ ...

Religion and spirituality continue to be unrecognized as effective strategies for coping against tragedies and life pressures and as essential factors in self-protection and psycho-emotional resiliency (Bryan-Davis, Austria, Kawahara & Willis, 2014). Despite that, these concepts constitute key pathways towards the holistic health and well-being of women (Bryant-Davis, Gray & Bhang, 2014). This paper explores the influences of religion and spirituality on women’s wellbeing, the few specific forms of nontraditional spirituality (such as Astrology, Hinduism, Gnosticism, Yoga, and Meditation), the seven markers of spiritual wellness according to Pazzino (2014), my personal definition of spirituality, my personal spiritual wellness self-assessment, and ...

Chaucer’s, “The Miller’s Tale” is a classic comedic piece that tells a remarkable story. However, the language in the original story can be discouraging to the modern reader. Therefore the writer hopes to present the tale in a modernized version that will help individuals to better understand the story without losing the true meaning of the story. In addition, there is the hope that readers of all ages will be able to understand the modernized version of the story. The writer hopes to tell the legend and life of the carpenter and his wife. After the knight told his story, ...

Review of Tamsyn Barton’s book ‘Ancient Astrology’

Ancient Astrology written by Tamyson Barton is a fresh and an objective perspective upon a persuasive yet often overlooked subject of social science. The book has two important theses, one is the premise that astrology, physiognomies, and few other "pseudo-sciences," as are under practice within the various societies where they are largely accepted, have similar claim to the authenticity of these fields as in the case with the other subjects that contemporary Western societies consider to be "scientific." Secondly, it is suggested by the author that the study should be based more on the history of the "sciences"; and that every ...

Introduction

Astrology is a name that comes from Greek words logos (study or science) and astron (stars). As such, astrology is a science or study of stars. The word differs from astronomy in that astrology studies the correlations between celestial events and humanly meaningful events (Lewis, 2003). The American Federation of Astrologers, as well as numerous other bodies, have credited the Babylonians with the birth of astrology, dating as far back as 1645BC (astrology.com). Scientific and technological advances have revolutionized human life and provided answers and solutions to many mysteries. Astrology has ceased to have a strong hold on religious and social interactions among ...

Introduction

Feng Shui is the Westernized term for the word ‘Fung Soy’, which is the correct pronunciation in Cantonese (Si, 2011). In other Chinese dialects the pronunciation of feng shui is quite different as it was originally, ‘Fung Shway’ (Levitt, 2000 p.1). Although there are varied pronunciations for feng shui, the characters remain the same in all dialects. Feng Shui means ‘wind’ and ‘water’ (Levitt, 2000 p.1; Feng, 2014). The field of feng shui was considered the ancient art and science of locating a sacred place on earth (Levitt, 2000 p.1). Originally, feng shui was used by the Chinese emperors in ...

Literature Review

In the beginning the, the ancient –medieval intellectual system of the Aristotle provided a concrete background for the development of the stable and harmonious natural phenomenon which was considered to remain unchangeable (Mozaffari,359-368). Even more ancient than this, was the idea that the celestial phenomenon place direct effects on the happenings on the earth. This very perspective is in itself reflective of the egocentric perspective of the human mind which seems to be one of the major characteristic of the activities of the human mind and display itself in the day to day activities ( Richardson, p.309-311). One of the ...

The origins of word ‘astrology’ lies in the Latin word ‘astrologia’ which means ‘account of the stars’ (Harper). The advocates of Astrology attempted to define astrology as the form of symbolic language, a form of art, a science and a kind of method of divination (Dietrich, p.305). Astrology can be defined as the study of the relationship between the positions and movements of the stars and other celestial bodies and the life which is present on the Earth. The Astrology is based on the assumption that there exists a positive correlation between the astronomical phenomena and events that take place on the Earth ...

Stuckrad describes astrology as “a discipline that reckons the meaning of celestial bodies (Stuckrad 4).” This means that through celestial bodies, astrologers can predict the future and provide reason in terms of what is happening in the present. The article notes that being an astrologist was deemed hereditary and through this mechanism, it has survived for many years. Astrologists used different planets and the moon to forecast the future (Struckrad 5). As a result, this has attracted a number of people including the priests and royalties into the belief of astrology as an important segment in the society. Prediction of the future ...

Pseudosciences are practices that masquerade themselves as science but have little or no scientific rigor or cohesion to them. They claim to be factual and scientific, yet do not adhere to scientific methodology and principles (Braithwaite 2006). In simple and lucid terms, pseudoscience is non-scientific and fails to adhere to the basic scientific principles, most importantly and notably the scientific principle of falsability. Pseudoscience lacks empirical and practical evidences and proofs for most of its claims and practices and hence discarded as misleading and false by leading scientists and scientific organizations. But the proponents of different pseudosciences claim them ...

Pseudo means false or something that is not genuine whereas science signifies knowledge that is gained through observation, experimentation and investigation hence Pseudoscience as a word is quite paradoxical. Similarly the basis of Astrology is considered to be paradoxical and conflicting. Astrology is a belief system that the movements of celestial bodies have a certain influence on human beings and certain outcomes are predicted on the basis of these movements. Planets are held responsible for the physical and mental traits of a person. Additionally, it is also believed that a person’s fortunes can be amplified and performing certain rituals can alter misfortunes. ...

When the first congress on alternative medicines was organized by the Faculty of Medicine in the University Of Rome in the year 1973; private practitioners from across the world presented more than one hundred and fifty brands of alternative medicines (Whistler 14). The congress, which sought to establish the validity and effectiveness of alternative medicines established that most of the alternative therapies were indeed functioning and that they could be tested and proven scientifically. Some of the therapies were found to be common in more than one community with most of the communities coming from the Asian continent. The ...

SHORT SUMMARY

Jesus of Nazareth was a Palestine Jew who grew up in Galilee, an important center of the militant Zealots and resistance to the rule of the Romans and their local collaborators like the Herodians and the Temple priests in Jerusalem. Contrary to later interpretations, his original message was not intended to undermine the traditional Jewish religion, but to emphasize that the Kingdom of God was at hand and that his disciples should love God and one another. His commandments were for the Jews to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and to love ...

Introduction

Since the old days, many people have longed to know what the future holds, how it will look like and exactly what will happen. Due to the persistent search of the unknown, people have developed the knowledge and different ways of looking into the present and past and relating it to what will happen in the future. Through this, many different methods of telling the future have been found and they include among others, psychic readings, crystallomancy, numerology, tarot card reading and astrology. Thus the findings of the different methods of telling the future has enabled selected individuals to ...

It is believed that long time ago many people thought that our lives in the earth are influenced by the heavenly bodies, they are: the moon, the starts, the planets, like Pluto, Mars, Venus, the Sun and so on. It is known that the rich and the famous people can’t make strong decisions by themselves, so that they follow advices of their astrologers. Today it’s very profitable to be good astrologer, because no one president or businessman can’t imagine their successful career without professional advisor.

Simon Prince and David Pingree claim that: “Astrology is a set of systems, ...