So, oftentimes in Gemara, when its trying to understand a mishna or a braita or some other kind of statement, it'll often make what is called an "Ukimta", which there's no real precise translation in English for, and I'm not even sure that the way I have spelled it english makes any sort of sense, but to give a rough idea of what it is (in case you are unfamiliar with it) the gemara will say that because of some other concern (usually a conflicting statement or a problem in logic) that the statement was only talking about this (usually hilariously outlandish) case. I don't have an actual example off the top of my head, but for instance, if the mishna says that one thing is assur, and the gemara brings another statement which says that thing is patur, the gemara will say that one of them is dealing with a special case of when you use that thing for something else. (Yes, I know, that was extremely illuminating). So a lot of times, you think in your head, a)How could we say that the statement, which was worded so simply was talking about something else entirely, and b) How could we say that this statement only applies in this completely outlandish case that will never, ever happen?
So I think we have to adjust our perception of how exactly gemara works. we tend to think of it as a system in which things are accepted and rejected entirely. One Rabbi puts an idea out, another Rabbi says it doesn't work, and then it's thrown out. Sort of like how it goes in Congress, a bill is written up, its voted on, if it passes, it lives, if it's outvoted, it dies. But Gemara isn't dealing with bills or letters, things that can be torn up and thrown out, the entirety of Gemara is to define concepts, what does this concept mean, when does this concept apply, and so on and so forth. Concepts and ideas cannot cease to exist. When a concept proposed by a Rabbi in the gemara is rejected, it does not cease to be at all. Its application only becomes limited. So it's not really a strictly legal process, because once a legal concept is not law, it no longer exists as a legal concept. Rather, its more a mathematical, algebraic process (Which is weird, because I hate math, but like Gemara). Numbers and variables do not cease to exist, ever. If you have 4x over 2x, and you factor out the 2x, factoring out 2x did not cause it to cease to exist. If you said that 4x/2x=4x/2x, you would be 100% correct. But, we factor out the variables that don't matter for our goal, which would be to find "x", presumably. I dont honestly remember so much math. I think what an Ukimta is, is the Gemara, having been given an equation, ie, a halcha given by a rabbi, trying to determine how all the variables fit exactly. So if one statement gives a halacha of one action being forbidden,(call that x=a), and one saying that it is permitted (x=f), the gemara now attempts to figure out what happened to x in each case to get different results. It then has to say that in x=f, x is really multiplied by some outlandish other variable in order to get the result that it did. And it doesn't matter if its outlandish, if it is the purest distillation of the halacha that has been presented. When you do physics problems (and I say "when you do physics problems", because I failed physics), the conditions are similarly outlandish. "Find out how fast a ball falls, assuming there is no air pressure". There will always be air pressure. That's a totally outlandish scenario. But it is still valuable, to distill in its purest form the effect of the force of gravity on the ball. You can go far as to say that when that Tanna taught that original, now explained halacha in a mishna, he did not even know that it only applied in such a case. But what the gemara does is tell us the purest form of his statement, where there are no other factors at play.
So I think this idea has some repercussions in terms of how to understand what's going on in gemara. All these halachic concepts we know of that decide what the halacha is in each individual case are all variables. Chazaka is one variable, Rov another variable, Pikuach Nefesh another, and so on. What Gemara, and anyone deciding halacha for that matter, does, is attempt to figure out which variables factor into the equation. So let's say my cow gored your cow and killed it. I have a chazaka on my money, but that gets factored out by the fact you have proof that you owe me copensation, and we know HaMotzei MeChavera Alav HaRaaya, if you want to get money from someone you need proof, meaning, that proof, "r" (for "raayah") is greater than "c" ("Chazakah"). Chazakah has now been factored out of the equation. Had the cow gored before? If yes, then we the "Mooad" variable does not get factored out, if it has not, it gets factored out of the final equation. And so on and so forth. Psak Halacha is an algebraic process. You have a question, you sit down, and start eliminating variables that dont factor into the final equation, even though they are still part of the equation, and keep factoring and factoring until you reach a final equation as to what the halacha is.
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