| Auszug: Emily Eakin. "Star Wars: Is Astrology
Sociology?" New York Times, June 2, 2001 |
 "Elizabeth Teissier is well known in France
as the weekly horoscope columnist for a popular television guide, the author of
a half-dozen books on astrology, and the astrologer to the French president
François Mitterrand. But Ms. Teissier, 63, has recently found herself on
the front page of French newspapers for something that hundreds of people do
every year: defending her dissertation. A Ph.D. candidate in sociology, Ms.
Teissier spent almost 10 years completing a 900-page thesis on astrology and in
April received a passing grade at the Sorbonne for her efforts."
..."An account of Ms. Teissier's thesis defense ran on the front page
of Le Monde, France's most important daily newspaper. Suggesting that at
least parts of the manuscript (cumbersomely titled “The Epistemological
Situation of Astrology in Relation to the Ambivalent Fascination/Rejection of
Postmodern Societies”) read more like the justification of a true believer
than a scholarly analysis by a skeptical scientist, the article set off a storm
of protest." ..."More than 400 sociologists have signed a petition
asking the president of the Sorbonne to make an independent evaluation of the
case." ..."According to her critics, Ms. Teissier's thesis is simply not
social science. “I've read the whole thing,” said Dominique Desjeux,
a sociologist at the Sorbonne. “It's the testimony of somebody who is a
well-known astrologer and writes about her experiences. She cites letters from
ordinary people as well as testimony from Mitterrand. There is no
sociology.”" ... |
© by Herbert Huber, Am Fröschlanger 15, 83512 Wasserburg, Germany, 18.6.2001