Meta (prefix): Difference between revisions

[[Douglas Hofstadter]], in his 1979 book ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'' (and in the sequel, ''[[Metamagical Themas]]''), popularized this meaning of the term. This book, which deals extensively with self-reference and touches on Quine and his work, was influential in many computer-related subcultures, and is probably largely responsible for the popularity of the prefix, for its use as a solo term, and for the many recent coinages which use it.{{fact|date=May 2010}} Hofstadter uses meta as a stand-alone word, both as an adjective and as a directional preposition ("going meta", a term he coins for the old rhetorical trick of taking a debate or analysis to another level of abstraction, as in "This debate isn't going anywhere," although Clifford Geertz had already used the term in 1963 on page 469 of "Peddlars and Princes"). This book is also probably responsible for the direct association of "meta" with self-reference, as opposed to just abstraction.{{fact|date=May 2010}} The sentence "This sentence contains thirty-six letters," and the sentence it is embedded in, are examples of sentences that reference themselves in this way.