Sunday 4 September 2011

Are There Limits to Genius?

Let's grant - arguendo - that R Chaim Soloveitchik aka R Chaim Brisker was the greatest Torah Genius of all Time

Questions

A. Does that confer infallibility onto his various writings?

B. Does that imply that his methods or the Brisker methodology are infallible?

C. Does that mean we must EG accept his every read of the Rambam as THE correct read? Or can we still offer alternate reads as plausible?.

Either way what is the correct approach here?

1. If Total Acceptance WHY? What principle is at work?

2. If partial rejection again - WHY? What principle is at work?

Or IOW just what does Genius confer or bestow upon a given author in terms of
• Authority?
• Reliability?
• Methodology?

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Or perhaps does it simply mean that a Genius has a higher PROBABILITY of being correct, but it does not address any specific observation or technique?

To use a baseball metaphor, Babe Ruth had the highest probability of hitting a home run in any given at-bat, but this did not preclude his many strike-outs.

Shalom,
RRW

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