All Roads Lead to Rome: Evaluating Knowledge Claims in Astrology

The history of astrology shows a rich palette of theories on how the starry sky is linked to events on planet earth. Underlying these theories we find two basic notions of knowing about reality and sharing knowledge: an objective and subjective one. Both approaches are described and evaluated in this essay. It is concluded that the practice of astrology has some inevitable and also desirable objective properties, but a mere objective approach to knowing about astrological reality is in more than one way inadequate. A subjective approach better describes and explains how astrological truths are obtained. However, within this perspective at least some notion of social objectivity is needed to be able to share knowledge. Astrology itself, specifically the theory of elements, informs us on the various epistemological possibilities. The essay ends with a plea for allowing all these epistemologies a place at the table.