[Avodah] Talmudic Process Question

[Rich, Joel]

The gemara in horiyot 6a discusses the issue as to the source of a
ruling by R' Papa that "ein mita ltzibbur" by karbanot. 

In the back and forth, the gemara posits that one comparison is no good
because the case at hand deals with the beginning of bayit sheni and no
one who had sinned at the time of bayit rishon could have still been
alive then.  The gemara then rejects that assertion based on Ezra 3:12
which famously records the crying of the zkenim (who remembered the
bayit rishhon ) at the consecration of bayit sheni.


Question: What was the gemara's hava amina to posit an assumption  that
CLEARLY wasn't true? (the usual answer I give is that there was
something to be learned or differentiated by the assumption - but I'm
stumped here)

GT
Joel Rich
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