[Avodah] Just what ARE the rules of p'sak anyway?

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger suggested:
> Let's say pesaq is not an algorithm, with yes-or-no rules,
> but a heuristic in which various factors are weighed. ...
> This seems to me a very clear expression of the distinction
> I'm trying to draw. Not rule vs rule, but adding up weights.

It is so obvious to me that there aren't really any undisputed rules here, that I've had trouble getting a grasp of the basics of this discussion. Another way of phrasing that would be to view my silence as a vote for the "adding up weights" idea.

(Yes, I know that many poskim have published their psak on what the rules are and how the rules work, but the lack of strong consensus among them leads me to read things like "The halacha is to pasken like A over B", and translate it as "My personal preference is for A over B".)

Akiva Miller