Ben Levi:
I’m not sure why you are making this an argument about R’ Slifkin’s views. Nowhere in this thread did I profess support for him or his views. The only thing that I was doing was refuting claims that YOU made (in this thread) about Chazal’s knowledge of science.
To that end I quoted two Gemara’s that explicitly acknowledge that Chazal got scientific knowledge from non-torah sources, and a gemara in which there is a scientific machlokes in which the gemara uses a scientific (i.e. observable reality) argument to show which position seems to be correct (ayen Maharsha sham).
I also quoted the Maharatz Chayes who says that Chazal’s knowledge in these areas was according to the science of their time.
I also quoted you R’ Dessler who granted that the scientific statements of Chazal may have been inaccurate but the halacha doesn’t change.
I also quoted you the Pachad Yitzchak who said that Chazal’s scientific statement has been proven wrong and he even suggested that the halacha should change.
I also quoted a teshuvah from R’ Sherira Gaon which says that Chazal were not physicians and their medical statements were based on the medicinal procedures they observed in their time.
I also quoted the ?????? ??? ?????? which explicitly says that Chazal’s scientific statements must have been based on the science of their time, for we see that they said things which are ????? ????.
And I quoted the Moreh Nevuchim which explicitly says that Chazal made statements based on the science of their time.
In response to all this you said that the Moreh Nevuchim is a pasul source and that the ?????? ??? ?????? quoted R’ Avraham (which I pointed out was only for one point), and that the reason why we don’t follow Chazal’s medical advice is a machlokes. (The fact that it is a machlokes has no bearing on the reason R’ SHerira Gaon gave.) I fail to see how this is an adequate response.