Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Astrology in Wikipedia

I don't know if anyone knows much about editing Wikipedia. I don't. A year ago there was an edit war in the Astrology section, and eventually some of the astrology friendly editors were banned.

I put in an edit this morning, which I don't expect to last. This is how the introduction to Astrology concluded:

While astrology may bear a superficial resemblance to science, it is a pseudoscience because it makes little attempt to develop solutions to its problems, shows no concern for the evaluation of competing theories, and is selective in considering confirmations and dis-confirmations.

I changed this to "some consider it to be a pseudoscience" and added the following:

Astrology, however, pre-dates modern science. Its truths lie in the skilful reading of symbols and in the observation of human behaviour, in much the same way that a psychoanalyst or novelist would glean his or her insights. These kinds of human truth are not easily testable by the very particular methods of science.

It is not for astrology to show that it stands up to the scientific method of testing; the onus is on science to show that its methods are applicable to astrology.
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10 comments:

Unknown said...

Spot on! Great editing and hope it lasts. While science is a very powerful instrument for knowledge we often forget thst it is not the only source for truth and knowledge. For instance, science on its own does not produce wisdom, it deals with facts. Not all knowledge can be reduced to facts, even more so to scientific facts. There are other sources to factual knowledge. Science is also an interpretative discipline, even math is. There is no straight forward pure facts, at least since Heisemberg we know that the subjective is as much a part of scientific knowledge as the objective is. The human experience can not and should not be reduced to scientific knwoledge and boundaries. When we undestand that science, poetry and religions are very similar, we may reach a point of greater understanding of the value and raum of each particular field of knwoledge and understanding. And that, of course, includes astrology.
Keep the good enlightening work up.
Cheers,Nick

Ilse said...

Hear, hear! Thanks for your comment on Wikipedia, and yes, let's hope it will last!

Mary Lee said...

In the for-what-it's-worth department: I knew a guy who constantly rewrote misinformation on one particular wiki site. He would check the site on a daily basis to watch for changes he knew would inevitably take place because the other guy was doing the same thing, determined to smear a good name.

Thanks for staying on top of it!

Barry Goddard said...

The edit war has begun. I have been 'corrected' back, and have in turn re-edited it.

If anyone else wants to join in feel free. Let's outnumber them! They can't ban several dozen of us!

Ilse said...

Sounds like a prelude of the coming Uranus square Pluto ;-))

Twilight said...

Goodness! While I applaud your attempt at a very reasonable edit Dharmaruci, why bother to get into those silly schoolyard-like spats. You're style is far above all that.

Whatever is written in Wiki will not dissuade an interested seeker from seeking further, of that I feel certain.
:-)

gawd_almighty said...

I agree with Twilight - apart from anything else, because if there's one thing life has taught me it's that you cannot persuade anyone to change their mind once they have made it up, for the simple reason that while we believe that we use our heads to think with, in fact we use our hearts. Feelings trump reason every time. Why else does Dawkins get so passionate and worked up over his opinions?

Morvah said...

Well said! And whilst I agree with former comments that an all-out wiki-war is quite possibly doomed to failure, it is well that the more senior and respected members of the astrology community, here and in the US are seen by their own community to have a dignified and articulate response to wholesale media discredit.

Astrology Rings said...

The tips you have shared on astrology is very clear to understand for great future.

Unknown said...

Wikipedia is always good.By the help of astrology Anything can be done easily.
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Free astrology predictions