ABSTRACT
From the standpoint of many thinkers in the Renaissance, astrology was science. To understand the full implications of the theme of astrology and science, therefore, is to understand a basic episode in the formation of humanity's outlook on nature, and perhaps, to throw more light on the complex pedigree of a category of experience, "science," that since the Renaissance has loomed ever larger in human life. This chapter explores three well-known and deeply contrasting interpreters of natural knowledge to epitomize the relation between astrology and science in the Renaissance. Gerolamo Cardano exemplifies how astrology was bound up with other natural knowledge, Francis Bacon shows how other knowledges could lead to innovations in astrology, and Johannes Kepler shows how astrology could lead to innovations in other branches of science. All three were highly controversial when they wrote and their writings subsequently spawned intense debates among scholars attempting to appraise their contributions.
