[Avodah] ?????: medieval jewish history

[Daniel Israel]

rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com wrote:
> RSP:
>> and one should wean himself from using an outdated encyclopedia.
>> Just because it's on the web doesn't make it an authority any
>> longer...
> 
> Imagine this paraphrase: "and one should wean himself from using
> outdated Talmud and Rishonim. Just because it's out there  doesn't
> make it an authority any longer.."

Torah and academia use different models of how knowledge is acquired.

> So if academics TODAY trash what was out there 100 years ago, then in
> one hundred years should we expect to trash current prevailing
> academic opinions?

Not sure what your point is.  In any case, this seems to be driving 
towards a pet peeve of mine.  The scientific model is not that 
subsequent models trash previous models, rather subsequent models refine 
previous models.  Yes, there are times when a revolutionary new advance 
means reversing previous understanding, but e.g., Einstein proved Newton 
wrong doesn't mean things fall up.

-- 
Daniel M. Israel
dmi1 at cornell.edu