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What is the difference between astronomy and astrology?

I'm preparing a public outreach lecture and need a concise, respectful, but unequivocal way to explain why astronomy is a science and astrology is not. I want to move beyond "one is science, one is not" to explain how their methods for gaining knowledge their epistemology are fundamentally different, and why this matters for public understanding of science.

 

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By Deeksha S Answered 2 years ago

The core distinction is epistemological how each claims to know something. Astronomy builds knowledge through the scientific method: making observations, forming testable hypotheses, creating mathematical models, and making predictions that can be, and are, falsified by new data. Astrology, in my assessment, operates on a pre-scientific, symbolic correspondence system. Its claims are not framed in a testable way; when tested under controlled conditions, they show no predictive power beyond chance. In outreach, I explain that astronomy asks "how" the universe works, constantly revising its answers, while astrology asserts "that" influences exist, without providing a testable mechanism.

 

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