And the Hi, I'm Peter Adamson, and you're listening to the History of Philosophy podcast brought to you with the support of the LMU in Munich and Kings College London.

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Today's episode

Born under a bad sign freedom and astrology in Jewish philosophy

If Abraham Ibn Ezra didn't have bad luck, he would have had no luck at all. He was born under a bad sign, as he reports in a poem he wrote about his unfortunate time of birth. Had he become a candlemaker, the sun

would never set again. If he were a dealer in shrouds, people would stop dying. And when

even Ezra spoke of his bad birth sign, he wasn't kidding.

He was a convinced astrologer, and indeed the author of numerous works on the subject of astrology,

and he believed that all events here on Earth involving individuals both great and humble and entire nations are steered by the heavenly bodies.

They say that there's nothing new under the sun, and even Ezra's belief in astrology is a good example.

Many moons ago, we saw that figures in antiquity, notably Ptolemy, contributed to both the science of astronomy and what most people would now consider

to be the pseudoscience of astrology.

Astrological teachings came into the Islamic world not only from Hellenic culture, but also from India, and the science assumed great cultural

importance. Like the Roman emperors, Califs used astrology for imperial propaganda, and like the philosophers of the Roman Empire, thinkers of the Muslim world were known to combine astrology with the cosmological teachings of Aristotelianism and Platinism.

Astrology was already a major interest. Aristotelianism and Platonism.

Astrology was already a major interest of Alkindi, and he helped to launch the career of one of the most

important early astrologers, Abumashar al-Bakhhi.

Abumashar, like Alkendi, drew on philosophy to give a methodological and cosmological rationale

for this science.

This is not to say that all philosophers of the Muslim faith accepted the validity of

astrology. It was criticized and indeed mocked by Alfarabi. Avicana also wrote a refutation of the claims of astrologers.

We find a similar situation among Jews with both advocates and critics of this science of the

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