Skyscript Astrology Forum

Can anyone direct me to a good source, hopefully but not necessarily on-line, about the circumstances of the termination of astrology as a subject taught in European universities? I am somewhat familiar with the situation in 17th century Britain, but am looking for something about the European continent.

I once found such an article on-line but neglected to make a copy and can't find it anymore. Also, this topic is not really discussed in Jim Tester, A History of Western Astrology; in Nicholas Campion, A History of Western Astrology vol. II; or in James R. Lewis, The Astrology Book, 2nd ed. I think the general outlines of the topic are evident, but am hoping to find some details.

Thanking you in advance, W.

waybread wrote:Can anyone direct me to a good source, hopefully but not necessarily on-line, about the circumstances of the termination of astrology as a subject taught in European universities? I am somewhat familiar with the situation in 17th century Britain, but am looking for something about the European continent.

As you alredy know it was Colbert who banned astrology from Sorbonne in 1666.

In Rome first Sisto V in 1586 with Coeli et terrae and then Urbano VIII with Inscrutabilis in 1630 stated that the knowledge o the future is only to God, and divining is an act of arrogance and devilish practices.

Anyway according Ornella Pompeo Faracoci, astrologer and Professor of Philosophy in an Italian University, the fall of astrology is mostly due to French culture where the old arguments against astrology (see Pico for example) linked with new mechanism of Descartes.

I believe you can inquire in this sense,
margherita

Thank you margherita!

I will try to follow up on these leads.

The article I once found on-line, neglected to copy, and can't relocate also had a fair bit of information on the demise astrology in German universities. If I need to follow this topic piecemeal, I might mention that I can read some French, a little German (under duress!) but no Italian.

There is also some information available on the influence of the Roman Catholic church in the fall of university astrology and on the role of the political situation in 17th century Britain; but they wouldn't explain why it also disappeared in Protestant northern Europe.

Hello again,

Faracovi repeated in many of her works how the main cause of the decline of astrology was mechanism, while in no way Copernican system affected it.

Some months ago I translated one of her lectures for Physics Department of Milan university:

http://heavenastrolabe.net/astrology-and-astronomy/

In every case she is more interested in Medieval/Renaissance philosophy, so in all the books I read of her, she just goes through this idea.

Anyway in Garry Phillipson 's site there is an interesting article about Isaac Newton, where some points and reference are given.

http://www.astrozero.co.uk/articles/Newton.pdf

I think you can get some input from that excellent reading,

margherita

Thanks very much, margherita! I read these articles with interest.

I have access to scholarly on-line journals via a university library card, and I have started to search there. But either the demise of university astrology is not an academic hot topic, or else I am using the wrong key words in my search. (Like, oh, astrology and Germany! )

I might just mention some of the issues running around in my mind re: the disappearance of astrology as a university subject in the 17th & 18th centuries. If nobody knows of articles on the topic, it might be interesting nevertheless to have a larger conversation.

1. Jim Tester, A History of Western Astrology p. 240 disputes the explanation for the decline of traditional astrology more generally as the work of its critics and its well-publicized errors in prediction. He notes that astrology always had its critics. Certainly Ptolemy thought so!

Tester's argument seems to be more subtle: that a key defense of astrology was by way of pointing out that its allied disciplines in the past (medicine, navigation according to Jean-Baptiste Morin, p. 237) also made mistakes in prediction/diagnosis, yet nobody suggested abandoning them. Yet as these disciplines progressed in accuracy (notably medicine, to which astrology was closely linked) they did so without the use of astrology. Astrology was therefore deemed inaccurate and redundant.

2. Christianity has blown hot and cold with astrology. Notably in the past, university ties with religious institutions were strong. When the Vatican, Martin Luther, and Jean Calvin all condemn astrology, obedient Christians have few choices. The rise of secularism in the Enlightenment does not mean a revival for astrology, however; which seems to fare better with spiritual sensibilities than without them.

Sec. 2116 of the Catechism reads: "All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future.48 Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone."

I don't know the age of this passage, but it would certainly discourage an academic revival of astrology in Catholic regions.

3. A German scholar, Claudia Brosseder, focused on astrology among a group affilitated with Wittenberg University in 16th century Germany (J. Hist. Ideas 66,4 (2005) 557-576.) She mentions astrology's demise only at the end of her book, but suggests that the problem here was that the Wittenberg astrologers claimed too much for their discipline; that it was the grand integrative discipline through which all other branches of knowledge could be understood. Other scholars protested this claim, and when astrology positions became vacant they were not refilled.

This interpretation seems a lot like internal campus politics today.

4. Changing models of the solar system have to be considered; but probably not the discovery of Uranus in 1781, by which point university astrology is pretty much toast.