ASTRONOMY, ETHICS AND THE PLANETS

Abstract

This paper looks at the astronomical context for morality and ethics. It explores the ways in which astrono

my has inspired theories of good and evil. It will argue that astronomy often has a moral component and

that the stars and planets have often been seen as inclining humanity to either good or evil acts, or can be

used in order to infer standards of human behaviour. It will also be argued that by influencing culture, as

tronomy requires or encourages action. The codification of morality in relation to astronomy can be traced to

Pharonic Egypt, was developed in the Hellenistic world and reached a full form in the first–century CE in

works such as Claudius Ptolemy‟s Tetrabiblos, in which the planets were ascribed personalities. These plane

tary personalities were embodied in every individual character and could incline people to good or evil de

pending on the planets‟ disposition at any one time. The notion of the seven deadly sins – one for each plan

et – can be traced to this system. The idea is, then, that morality is a dynamic system, moving in space and

time as the planets move. While an individual may be inclined to do evil at a particular moment or location

in space and time, they might equally be disposed to do good. The system was challenged from a number of

perspectives. Hermetic and Gnostic cosmology proposed that, because the entire cosmos was evil, the only

solution was to escape from it entirely and the Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas critiqued the claim that

the planets could directly influence moral choice. The paper will conclude with reference to the impact of

modern astronomy on morality: the use of Newtonianism to support theories of natural justice and universal

human rights, and the application Einsteinian relativity to the theory of cultural relativism, in which no one

culture can claim to be superior to any other.