Non mainstream areas of inquiry as astrology, fortune-telling, and psychic and paranormal pursuits play a vital role in society by satisfying human needs that are not addressed by mainstream science.

Essay by natalie600 December 2006

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Are the non mainstreamareas of inquiry satisfied with the humans' needs and society influence? The issue has the two aspects to discuss. First, the non mainstream areas of inquiry are vital to humans needs. Second, the areas are vital to society. I consider that astrology, fortune-telling, psychic, and paranormalpursuits play a certain basic role for our human needs and our society.

What is the difference among the astrology, fortune-telling, psychic, and paranormal pursuits? According tothe word definition, Science is a system of knowledge especially as obtained and tested through scientific method. The astrology and fortune-telling are belong to the Pseudoscience which is any body of knowledge, methodology, belief, or practice that claim to be scientific, but does not follow the scientific study. As to the psychic and the paranormal pursuits, they are unknown phenomenon that in one or more respects exceeds the current scientific assumptions. Therefore, the astrology, the fortune-telling and the psychic are not the same as the paranormal and pursuits.

In this modern society, people still believe these non-mainstream studies. Because something is beyond the boundary of human knowledge, people can know nothing about it. For example, the priests of ancient Egyptians used the astrology to predict weather change, eclipses, and other natural events. Besides, the priests also designed the calendar; identified the basic cycles as sun, moon, other plants, and stars; and divided their year into twelve months base on the moon's twelve cycles during a year. Although the astrology is the pseudoscience study, the astrology plays a major role for ancient Egyptian civilization. Moreover, there are full of phenomenon that cannot be explained by the current laws of science in our society such as ghost or supernatural power. In addition, when people meet troubles or felt frustrated, they want to find the...