[Avodah] sevara vs. psak

[David Riceman]

RMB:

<<you are discussing the case where rov hold X over Y, but only a

mi'ut hold X because of sevara A and only a mi'ut hold X because of
sevara B. If the vote were on sevaros, we would say that neither A nor
B should become din, and therefore lemaaseh we shoul do Y. However:
(1) the vote is on outcomes; and (2) dayanim don't hold A to the exclusion
of B, C or D, nor even to the exclusion of not-A -- a dayan could hold
X because maybe-A and if not, maybe-B ... and all the other complicated
ways multiple reasons come together to convince someone. The vote
couldn't be about who holds which sevara because that's uncountable.>>

(a) You have presented no evidence that voting for sevaros would be uncountable - - surely the BD could simply go down the list and take a vote about each sevara, or the meishiv could list the sevaros he accepts in his teshuva.

(b) It is true that voting is about the outcome of a particular case.  The problem is precedent: in order for a case to become a precedent we need to be able to generalize it, and that requires reasoning by analogy, and that requires sevara.

Paradoxes can sometimes result.

David Riceman