[Avodah] Torah UMadda

[Harry Maryles]

On Wed, 3/2/11, David Riceman <driceman at optimum.net> wrote:
> Consider an analogy with psak. If you ask a shailah, and the rav you
> ask lists ten answers given by rishonim and aharonim, but gives you
> no sense of how they came to their conclusions, how useful is that
> response? Surely you shouldn't just pick the answer you like best;
> that's not how psak works. Why should this case be any different?

> To use your terminology, the "models" are so incomplete that they're
> useless.

OTOH consider how Psak is often reached. A Posek needs to fully research
the topic he is Paskining on. In that snese the Psak 'develops' as
information about both the physical nature as well as all relevant
Halachos that impact on it are learned. Until one reaches that stage
-- the Psak is a work nin progress. I think the same is true about
Hashkafos. The more one knows -- and the more one thinks about what they
know, the more the Hashkafa is developed. TuM is a work in progress.

HM