Maharam Schick - scientific facts are not final even for Chazal

from Daas Torah - translation copyrighted

Maharam Schick  (E.H. #7): My opinion is that these matters of planetary motion were not received by our Sages as halacha l’Moshe m’Sinai (Divinely given on Sinai) but rather were said according to their own reasoning. In such matters which are not part of our Tradition and have no root in our Torah but rather are the result of investigation and experience – it is difficult to determine if it is actually true. There are many times when sages decided matters according to their own intellects, but later generations investigated deeper and rejected the findings of the earlier generations. Therefore all matters that are based upon experience are impossible to decide unequivocally but can only be described in terms of whether most people agree with it. That is why in Pesachim (94b), Rebbe says that, “the view of the secular sages appears to be correct.” He did not simply say that they were correct. That is because they only produced logical proofs and thus it is impossible to declare that the matter is finally resolved…. Final resolutions are only relevant concerning the laws of the Torah where we are commanded to do according to that which appears correct – “a judge can only decide based on what he sees” – and G d agrees to the decision of man. This is not so concerning investigations of nature and science.