Philosophies of the Zodiac

I am totally nullifying myself from legitimacy here for this blog, but this will be fun. It's not like Facadesaside has that much philosophical clout anyway.

There are 12 signs in the zodiac, signs of astrology, and each of them has a story. I'd like to think of them as philosophies, but the difference between astrology and philosophy is important. These are sort of life-tackling's. How does each sign (conceptually) tackle life? How is this philosophical? How isn't this philosophical?

This isn't my idea; it comes from the fact that Capricorn is known for Pragmatism; the motto of the sign is "I use," and it just so happens that all the signs sort of look like this if you put them that way.

Starsky and Cox in Sextrology say that the Zodiac is a mirror of the Bible, from Genesis (Aries) to the flood (Cancer) to whatever the last part is (Pisces).



Aries - (Creation) Speed and Originality; the creation of life, Oneness
Taurus - (Eden) the Joy of being alive (Epicureanism) & perhaps eastern philosophy, Materialism (I always think of famous Taurus philosopher Karl Marx and his doctrines of Materialism)
Gemini - (Adam and Eve) - Dialectic; Communication, compromise, deals, Dualism
Cancer - (The Flood) - Emotion, Passion, Intuition, thinking here of Leibniz (1 July 1646 [OS: 21 June] – 14 November 1716) who's philosophy's reassured people with God's existence; Cancer is also associated with women in general, thus Feminism and women's studies go here
Leo - Analytic logic, (Thinking here especially of Hilary Putnam born July 31, 1926, famous Leo Analytic Philosopher)
Virgo - Dialectic Materialism (I know this is a Marxist Doctrine, but think like famous Virgo philosopher George Wilhelm Fredric Hegel (?) and his Dialectic), alchemical change, "earning" philosophy and paying dues (although I'm not sure what system of thought this exactly corresponds to); don't ask me why, but Virgos are also known for Ethics
Libra - Higher thought, civilization; Starsky and Cox link this to Nietzche's (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900) concept of the Apollonian coming from Apollo the Greek God of the sun; Aesthetics, philosophy of the Forms is especially pertinent, so Plato and the Rationalists like Kant, Descartes, Leibniz, and Spinoza are over here.
Scorpio - Foundationalism, Discovery, mystery, the unknown, sixth senses, Exploration, power struggles (20th century political philosopher Robert Nozick November 16, 1938 – January 23, 2002 is known for his work on the individual as a building block for governmental systems).
Sagittarius - group thought and therefore political philosophy, Optimism, Synthesis, American Transcendentalism, Romanticism; Starsky and Cox liken the Sagittarius to Nietzche's Dionysian, Existentialism, and also Integration, probably most visible (the only visible) Sagittarius philosopher being Noam Chomsky (December 7, 1928 ); but Voltaire sort of counts because of the intelligent humor he wrote with (November 21, 1694 – May 30, 1778), even though he's right on the line with Scorpio.
Capricorn - the sign that got me on this kick, Pragmatism (Benjamin Franklin's (January 17, 1706 [O.S. January 6, 1705^[1]] – April 17, 1790) philosophy of whatever works and of course William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910)), contentedness and therefore self control, Golden Age rhetoric, Stoicism
Aquarius - invention, mutation, originality, Stoicism (I know I put this twice) John Rawls (February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) practically invented Modern Political Philosophy with his viewpoints on Egalitarianism.
Pisces - Philosophy of Religion, German Idealism, Phenomenalism and Classic Idealism a pretty good representative might be George Berkeley (12 March 1685 – 14 January 1753).

There are dozens of ways to break down or combine the signs; for one, Virgo is represented by Athena as a war-goddess emphasizing strategies; versus Aries is represented by Aries the war god emphasizing total war. There are lots of combinations, conglomerations and common places for the signs. Some of the broader ones are Quality; Phase; and another is polarity (masculine and feminine signs).

There's a bit of hopscotch about each of these matches around the wheel of the year; fore instance Aries is a Fire sign, and x amount of months later it's Leo, add that same number x to Leo's months and you get Sagittarius, and then x amount of months and back to Aries.

Starsky and Cox identify quadrants as another one of these identifiers. Quote, "The zodiacal quadrants correspond to the metaphysical planes of existence--physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual." The first group of 3 is Aries, Taurus, and Gemini (Physical), next is Cancer, Leo, Virgo (Emotional), Scorpio, Libra, and Sagittarius (Mental), and Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces (Spiritual).

Some philosophers and how they do and do not apply:

Shouldn't Descartes (31 March 1596 – 11 February 1650), by such a list, be the poster child for (mind-body) Dualism or Foundationalism, and therefore be a Gemini or a Scorpio, respectfully, (and not an Aries)?

Shouldn't Charles Taylor, known for his Golden Age rhetoric, be a Capricorn and not a Scorpio, as he is?

Thomas Hobbes 5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679 is an Aries, but he's always talking about Materialism, which is supposed to be a Taurus quality.

Nietzche's a Libra, and his philosophy talks about the Apollonian; so why does his philosophy more closely resemble the Romanticism, Existentialism, and Transcendentalism of the Sagittarius?

Spinoza is known for Monism, the philosophy of Oneness. But really he's a Sagittarius. Shouldn't that make him an Aries?

Johann Gottlieb Fichte (May 19, 1762 – January 27, 1814), Bertrand Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) and John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873)are Taurus-Geminis, but their philosophies are not anything alike; since Mill only wrote about Political Philosophy and Russell only wrote about Political philosophy later in life, he was mostly a philosopher of mathematics. Fichte did rally for the concept of the German state, however.

Willard Van Orman Quine (June 25, 1908 – December 25, 2000) is known for his cool analysis, but he's a Cancer, or at least a Gemini-Cancer. Shouldn't he be a Leo?

Born four days prior Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) seems like a poster child for Sagittarius existentialism. He's not. He's a Cancer-Gemini, too.

But his philosopher peer Simone de Beauvoir (January 9, 1908 – April 14, 1986) was a Capricorn-existentialist, not a pragmatic philosopher like we would think.

Don't even get me started on Taurus David Hume (7 May 1711 [26 April O.S.] – 25 August 1776) versus Aries-Taurus Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804). Did these guys match any of the zodiac's philosophy?

Jean Jacques Rousseau (Geneva, 28 June 1712 – Ermenonville, 2 July 1778) was a political philosopher, but of course he's a Cancer by zodiac.