Marketing Astrology: The Magic Touch

Abstract

Astrology has been defined in various ways throughout history, starting with the definition of knowledge that appears in Plato’s Theaetetus dialogue in which knowledge is considered to be a “justified true belief”. If knowledge can only emerge when all three conditions of belief, justification, and truth are met simultaneously then astrology can only be more belief than knowledge, or opinion or presumption. In that case, we can define astrology as “belief in the falsehood”. The reason for the popularity of astrology does not seem to originate from science and knowledge, which makes it false in Plato’s opinion. The person who chooses to believe in astrology, which somehow claims to explain the unknown, does so because astrology represents a product that offers security and hope for such person. This quality has meaning for the consumer society of the 21^st century: astrology is a product of desire that markets the experience of the future. The unknown has always been interesting, for both ancient and contemporary societies. One can say that making the unknown known is equivalent to the individual of our age reassuring and motivating self in the pursuit of life. While the statement highlights astrology as an element of marketing, it does not seem possible to talk about a general definition of astrology, which is widely accepted. It is probably not easy to seek an answer to the question what is astrology within numerous intertwined relationships of astrology with, for example, religion, science, astronomy, or psychology. Our compass in navigating through this labyrinth would be the history of astrology.