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Astrology/astronomy disctinction
From: John Huth
Date: 2010 Jul 22, 18:06 -0400
From: John Huth
Date: 2010 Jul 22, 18:06 -0400
Here's one for you folks.
I was interested in the origin of ephemerides in the middle ages. As far as I could tell the primary use of ephemerides were for the purposes of casting horoscopes. I must admit, that in a casual conversation with someone, I was a bit sloppy in saying that astrologer's ephemerides were employed for x-and-such purpose. An astronomer I spoke with took umbrage over this point.
I can see the distinction - if you case a horoscope, you're doing astrology. My friendly astronomer would say that if you create an ephemeris, you are doing astronomy. But, what if the primary aim of the ephemeris is to create a horoscope? What does that make you? An astrologer or an astronomer, or both?
Does anyone know the actual usage of terms in that era? What was the maker of an ephemeris called in the middle ages? What did they call themselves?
I'm curious.