ROB
If you think that Slifkin who is not acedemically trained in anything and is not considered a major authority in any field by his “peers”, a man whose own “Rabbi” Rav moshe Shapiro (who is actually regarded as the final word on matters of Jewish Thought in our generation and is a student of Rav Dessler, is “peerless in his knowledge of zooology and astronomy, then you seem to be imply those are fields that lack major authority’s.
I most definetley don’t believe you regarding astronomy and am doubtful regarding zooology.
And the real question is whether or not one can causally dismiss
them based on our own apparent understanding.
Slifkin takes the position that yes, one can and a smart person does.
It’s what he has written about in his books, his blogs, and spoken about publicly.
Tose that argue on him staight he alternates between being a fool or a kofer.
The question is not whether one should take literally all words of Aggadita or rule accordingly since the traditional views of Aggadita in the chareidi camp were based on the Ramchal and Vilna Gaon, who bothe wrote extensivley on Aggadita and warned against taking them literally since they were written to conceal mysticism.
See the Ramchal in Mamar HaAgodos and the Gra brought in Even Shelaima (who also calls those who dismiss Aggadita “fools”).
and the Mahral (Be’er haGolah) of Prague whostated one generally cannot rule based on Aggadita since they cannot know for certain they understand what it ctually is saying.