Dear All - especially Richard as is it to him that I am replying,
I, as well, am cynical about astrology, although it rarely stops me
from reading the horoscopes 'just for a laugh'. It appears to me that
the idea of a hermeneutic circle, as a whole, is interesting, for the
following reason: In the case of astrology, is it not the case that
those who are not particularly believing in the concept nevertheless
try to find a way of intergrating certain aspects of it into their
lives? By this, I mean that someone may believe one bit of a horoscope,
but not another. e.g This week you will by lucky financially, but will
be in poor health. The person may find a penny on the road and reckon
that this was their 'luck in finances' and thus believe what they have
read. However, if they come down with a cold, they may be more likely
to put this down to coincidence, simply because it may spook them that
their horoscope may be 'true' with regard to bad omens. Is it thus not
the case that we are able to jump in and out of this hermeneutic circle
as and when it takes our fancy? I'm not sure if I've grasped the
concept of the hermeneutic circle completely, but from what I
understand, once we step into the circle, everything makes sense. Thus,
in the case of astrology, I reckon that many people do in fact jump in
and out of the circle when it suits them. But is this not the case for
everyday life; that we usually only believe in something dubious when
the outcome is beneficial to us? Therefore, I actually picture the
circle, not as a complete circle, but more as a broken circle.
I have one further comment, and that is, with regard to the experiments
carried out on rats and the saccharin mixed with an immunosuppressant
drug. What would happen if, after the first trial, and after the effect
of the plain saccharin as an immunosuppressant in the first test had
lessened, another dose of the immunosuppressant was given along with
saccharin? Would the implication of an immunosuppressant in a second
trial still have as significant an effect as in the first test?
Cheers, Louise
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Feb 13 2001 - 16:23:15 GMT