The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician (2001)

wje wrote: post #3

wnmurphy wrote: post #2

What's a metaphysician? A doctor who doctors doctors?

A person who studies metaphysics. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy dealing with questions like 'What is there?'.

Odd, I'd have expected the term to be "metaphysicist."

Re: The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician (2001)

#5

Post by cure » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 7:23 PM UTC

A little more information:

http://www.marcsandersfoundation.org/about/the-founder/

Re: The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician (2001)

#6

Post by Animats » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 7:31 PM UTC

Oh, that A. M. Monius thing again.

"Does reality have a purpose? Why are things intelligible at all?" Those questions run into the usual problem when looking for a First Cause:

"God created the world."

"Then who created God?"

"Shut up, kid."

Some philosophers get into this mess by starting from the assumption that there must be something more than the physical universe, so that it somehow "makes sense". With that bias, you get things like this paper. Plus a big chunk of theology.

Re: The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician (2001)

#7

Post by joshuaheard » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 7:41 PM UTC

The link in the article to the institute was broken. Here is an updated link: https://www.comingtounderstanding.com/

Interesting the institute calls itself "Ammonius", not A.M. Monius. And the author of "Coming to Understanding" is clearly identified as Marc Sanders.

Re: The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician (2001)

#8

Post by ebullientocelot » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 7:43 PM UTC

wje wrote: post #3

wnmurphy wrote: post #2

What's a metaphysician? A doctor who doctors doctors?

A person who studies metaphysics. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy dealing with questions like 'What is there?'.

A term that is unfortunately abused, at least where I live, by fortune telling shops and other such things.

Re: The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician (2001)

#9

Post by ythn » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 8:01 PM UTC

Animats wrote: post #6

Oh, that A. M. Monius thing again. "Does reality have a purpose? Why are things intelligible at all?" Those questions run into the usual problem when looking for a First Cause: "God created the world." "Then who created God?" "Shut up, kid." Some philosophers get into this mess by starting from the assumption that there must be something more than the physical universe, so that it somehow "makes sense". With that bia…

You have that problem with any theory, not just religious ones. You could argue that God was created the same way we were - by another God. Which eventually leads to "Gods have always existed", which is similar to Big Bang's problem of "matter has always existed".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_why_there_is_anythi...

Re: The Mystery of the Millionaire Metaphysician (2001)

#10

Post by antonvs » Wed, Jul 25, 2018, 8:06 PM UTC

joshuaheard wrote: post #7

The link in the article to the institute was broken. Here is an updated link: https://www.comingtounderstanding.com/ Interesting the institute calls itself "Ammonius", not A.M. Monius. And the author of "Coming to Understanding" is clearly identified as Marc Sanders.

> And the author of "Coming to Understanding" is clearly identified as Marc Sanders.

The Slate article is a republishing of a Lingua Franca article from 2001. Author identification was presumably only added after the author's cover was blown.

The 2000 and 2007 versions of the document don't mention his name. The acknowledgements in the 2010 version mention his brother, Dr. Michael Sanders, and the included review by Zimmerman mentions the author's name.