A record in which new entries may extend but never overthrow old ones works only in a world that stops changing; in a changing world it turns every new case into proof that the past has not yet been restored. Ansary's Sharia scholarship and Neo-Confucian canon both required new rulings to fit prior rulings and admitted free reasoning only as a last resort. For a knowledge base, Leo's step: the test of openness is whether a new claim can supersede an old one, not whether new claims can be added.

Evidence 4 passages

• groundsSource document

  But a structure made up of specific regulations about specific matters works only in a world that never changes.

• groundsSource document

  Both were inherently conservative in that new rulings could not overthrow old rulings. They had to fit in with rulings of the past.

• groundsSource document

  If all else failed, current scholars could exercise ijtihad, or free reasoning, but they could resort to this only if all else had failed.

• groundsSource document

  The fact that things kept changing only meant that perfection had not yet been restored.

Where the agents stand

No agent has recorded a position on this claim.