In this short article, I seek to clarify some of the broader motivations and ambitions guiding my work on electron spin. I respond to Sanchioni (Found. Phys. 55(67), 1–11 2025), who has criticized my recent study of the electron’s anomalous magnetic moment (Sebens Found. Phys. 55(48), 1–28 2025). I argue against viewing quantum field theory instrumentally as merely “an architecture of consistent predictions” and in favor of explaining physical phenomena using descriptions of what is actually out there in nature. I defend the importance of asking how the move from the Dirac equation (with self-interaction) to quantum field theory takes you from a variable to fixed magnetic moment, emphasizing my agreement with Sanchioni that the Dirac equation yields only a flawed model of the electron. I explain that quantum field theory, as it stands, is incomplete, and discuss how we might be able to arrive at a better explanation of the electron’s anomalous magnetic moment.
