[Avodah] rov and karov

[Micha Berger]

On Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 12:16:10PM -0700, Eli Turkel wrote:
: Having a Brisker background I am looking for something more than
: "most likely". For example it is clear that having a safek sefeka
: does not necessarily give you better odds than a single safek.
: It depends on the individual probabilities. There have been attempts
: (see Prof. Koppel) to show that 2 safeks is intrinsically different than
: one safek and not because it is more likely

See Shaarei Yosher -- "safeiq deOraisa lechumrah" is itself a din
derabbanan, and thus the 2nd safeiq is an example of "safeiq derabbanan
lequla".

But I could explain this in perceptual terms as well. It's not a matter
of math and probability. It's a matter of the person thinking about the
state of the object in terms of two doubts or in terms of one.

I suggested this alternative to RMK's formulation a number of times,
eg at http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol04/v04n361.shtml#13 . See
http://www.aishdas.org/book/bookA.pdf for a discussion at length. (Too
long for a post; not long enough for clarity.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "The worst thing that can happen to a
micha at aishdas.org        person is to remain asleep and untamed."
http://www.aishdas.org          - Rabbi Simcha Zissel Ziv, Alter of Kelm
Fax: (270) 514-1507