The Descartes Centrum for history of science of the University of Utrecht, in collaboaration with the department of philosophy of the Radboud University at Nijmegen, will host an international conference on the problem of the marginalization of astrology in the early modern period.
Astrology has been a well-established and respected part of scholarship for centuries, practiced in many cultural and geographical settings. However, in the modern world, astrology, though still very much present, has lost its scientific status and is relegated to the fringes of serious learning. In the history of the sciences, this must be regarded as a momentous shift. The definite step in the “marginalization” of astrology appears to have been taken in the seventeenth century and should therefore be regarded as an important element (rather than as a consequence) of the so-called Scientific Revolution.
The reasons for this development are far from clear. Actually, even the development itself (when, where and by whom did astrology become disavowed) has so far been only poorly documented. The conference therefore aims at bringing together specialists from various fields to throw light on this intruiging question.

People who are interested to give a paper at this conference are invited to send a title and abstract (300 words maximum) by the end of September to the organizers:

Rienk Vermij, history of science, University of Oklahoma (rienk.vermij@ou.edu)
Hiro Hirai, department of philosophy, University of Nijmegen (hhirai2@gmail.com)