Astrology vs. Fraknoi
Read http://www.onereed.com/articles/vvf/debunk.htm#fnB14. Take Fraknoi's questions one at a time and evaluate Vaughn's replies. For each question, determine whether or not Vaughn's comment adequately addresses the point Fraknoi is trying to make. You can also think about the following questions.
1a. Is Fraknoi wrong to think that the majority of people who believe in astrology think of it in terms of sun-sign astrology?
1b. Does Vaughn agree or disagree with Fraknoi about the efficacy of sun-sign astrology?
2a. If the moment of conception was crucial, how would people go about finding out when they were conceived?
2b. Is it impossible to imagine that modern astrological practice incorporates a 9-month lag-time automatically into its calculations?
3a. Has Vaughn actually answered this question?
3b. If astrology turned out to be based on conception date, would a steak cubicle matter?
(By the way, you would test this by building a steak cubicle, with steak roof and steak floor, around an expectant mother, have the baby live in the cubicle for several days, and then see if the baby's life fit the horoscope based on the day she emerged from the cubicle rather than the day she was born. Duh.)
4a. Has Fraknoi given any reason to think that there are no astrologers out there quietly getting rich in the stock market?
4b. Has Vaughn given any reason to think that astrologers can only get rich if astrology really works? (If yes, I have some gold mine stock to sell you.)
Note. Quantum physics did make Newtonian physics incorrect, but it's still good enough for artillery and space missions.
5. Did astrology get more accurate after it incorporated the three outermost planets?
6a. Does astrology call on us to refuse to date certain people, or to refuse to hire certain people?
6b. Doesn't psychology purport to tell us about people's personalities? Does Fraknoi call on us to condemn psychology?
7a. Has Fraknoi given evidence to support his claim about ten different astrologers?
7b. Has Vaughn explained those reasons why both astrologers and scientists disagree among themselves?
7c. Has Vaughn given evidence to support her claim about ten different doctors?
7d. Has Vaughn given us reason to think that astrologers settle their differences the way doctors do?
8. Does Vaughn agree or disagree with Fraknoi on whether or not astrological influence is carried by a known force?
9a. Has Vaughn given us reason to think that consciousness is a force?
9b. Has Vaughn given us reason to think that consciousness involves a force not dependent on distance?
9c. Has Vaughn given us reason to think that relativity involves a force not dependent on distance?
(Quantum mechanics includes certain kinds of effects that happen instantaneously over any distance. But these effects cannot be used to transmit information.)
10. Compare this question to questions 5 and 7.
Finally, make a list of the questions that Vaughn failed to adequately answer, if any. Go over these questions and see how many of them you can answer in a way that both defends astrology and is logically well founded. Then make a list of the questions, if any, that don't yet have adequate answers. Then in your own words explain how these remaining questions constitute a threat to the claim that astrology works.
Of course, once you've finished that, you can go on and add any comments that occur to you. Did you change your mind about anything? Can you come up with better arguments on each side of the issue? Can you figure out what questions have to be settled before we can decide this issue? Based on the arguments you've seen so far, what is your overall take on the issue at this moment? What reasons do you have for coming to this conclusion? Anything else?
This Site is Proudly Hosted By:
Copyright © 2004 by Martin C. Young