man qua man: see qua
metaphysics: Etymology: New Latin & Medieval Latin, from Latin or Greek; Latin, from Greek, among, with, after, from meta among, with, after; akin to Old English mid, mith with, Old High German mit--" 3 [metaphysics] : more comprehensive : transcending <metapsychological> Mirriam-Webster's Online Dictionary
Arbitrary title given by Andronicus of Rhodes, circa 70 B.C. to a certain collection of untitled Aristotelean writings. Traditionally the "science of being as such," or the philosophical science or art of conceptualizing that which is "beyond physics;" <transcending physics>. Ergo, metaphysics deals with ideas about things that exist in physics; but also that exist in the conceptual world, whether of physics or of ideas themselves. Whereas physical science tries to identify the physical nature of an object, metaphysics attempts to define its conceptual identity.
Metaphysical facts are those which are inherent in the identity of an existent, i.e., a thing that exists. Though men may disagree about such "facts," and even whether or not they are indeed facts, men act on them as having the identity of a fact. E.g., it is a metaphysical fact that the human voice cannot be heard over a distance of 240,000 miles, yet by accepting that "fact," men were able to circumvent its truth by inventing radios capable of beaming back to Earth the voices of the astronauts circling and walking on the moon. Such circumvention follows the axiom laid down by Francis Bacon, that "Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." Philosophers differer in their assessments of metaphysical facts because identities are not empirical, they are conceptual. An example of such conceptual differences is Plato's concept of essences as mirror images of the identities of the gods and goddesses; Aristotle's concept that essences were "in the things themselves," as though they could be extracted as chemicals and dyes are extracted from objects; and Ayn Rand's concept that essences are conceptual and are not "in the things," but rather are the means by which the intellect understands the identity of the existent. It is a metaphysical fact that all entities have essences, but those are conceptual, which allow men to disagree. If metaphysical facts were empirical, we would all agree, but because some men disagree they find a way to make the human voice carry over great distances; they find methods to see through the walls of buildings; they find ways of mapping living brains without ever physically invading the barrier of the skull; they find ways of escaping gravity.
monopoly: Natural: A "natural monopoly" is defined in economics as an industry where the fixed cost of the capital goods is so high that it is not profitable for a second firm to enter and compete. There is a "natural" reason for this industry being a monopoly, namely that the economies of scale require one, rather than several, firms. Small-scale ownership would be less efficient. http://www.progress.org/fold74.htm Fred E. Foldvary, Senior Editor; The Progress Report
mnemonic cognition: the faculty of having contiguous moments of cognition that lead to conceptual thinking that is not "range-of-the-moment" consciousness, but instead is capable of integration with other moments of cognition. It is this integration of moments from one conceptual though to the next that defines contiguous, and that would not be possible without the mnenomic recall of past events in the line of contiguity.
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