Jesuitical vs. Talmudic - Making arguments, splitting hairs

[Xipe Totec]

I came across the term Jesuitical reasoning while reading the critique of James P. Hogan's "Kicking the Sacred Cow: Questioning the Unquestionable and Thinking the Impermissible" by H. H. Bauer:

http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_19_3_bauer_2.pdf

So I dug a little deeper and found this article on Jesuitical vs. Talmudic reasoning:

http://www.slate.com/id/3164/

I found both articles interesting, enlightening, and amusing.

From the Critique:

"Many or most members of the Society for Scientific Exploration will feel
kinship with Hogan's account of his growing realization that science, whose
accomplishments and ideals had so attracted him, was becoming something
quite different, akin to a dogmatic and bureaucratic religion. That growing
realization shows that Hogan himself was following where the evidence pointed.
Of course, most of us imagine that we do that; I certainly do. How can it then
happen that I agree with Hogan on all significant points about what science is,
has been, and should be-and yet differ from him sharply on several of the
specific cases that he looks at?"

And the article on Jesuitical vs. Talmudic reasoning:

To characterize a lie as an "economy of truth" would be a Jesuitical formulation. To say that one had smoked marijuana but did not inhale would be a Jesuitical distinction. (Bill Clinton received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, a Jesuit school.) William Safire argues that "Jesuitical" has by now developed a sense devoid of any overtones of prevarication: "subtle, intricate, moralistic reasoning, informed by a rigorous logic" is his definition. I am not as sanguine as Safire, and believe that using the word will always carry some slight risk: It may be wielded as a slur and received as a compliment, or vice versa.

"Talmudic" carries none of this baggage. The Talmud, with its commentaries on the Torah and its commentaries on the commentaries (the process goes on and on) cannot be faulted for using guile to arrive at a congenial "truth." But the word has its own negative connotations. Talmudic scholarship is famous for the tortuous and painstaking manner in which truth is pursued and established--if it can be established at all. It is assumed by Talmudic scholars that the language of the Talmud is precise, and that each word is therefore of surpassing significance. As a result, even infinitesimal details are treated with the utmost seriousness. Also, while Talmudic scholarship is sometimes aimed at practical affairs (for instance, civil and criminal law, dietary laws, the status of women), it also considers issues that have no practical application at all, and sometimes delves into matters that may seem utterly fanciful.