Sunday, July 4, 2010

Meta-fun: for the self-involved

Shamelessly copied and pasted from wikipedia, I bring you the problem with my mind:

Meta- (from Greek: μετά = "after", "beyond", "with", "adjacent", "self"), is a prefix used in English (and other Greek-owing languages) to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another concept, used to complete or add to the latter.

For example, the commonly used term metacognition refers to awareness of one's own thinking and learning processes.  

Other examples:
  • Meta-reference, a meta-fiction technique, is a situation in a work of fiction whereby fictional characters display an awareness that they are in such a work, such as a film, television show or book. The oldest use of meta-reference in cinema is possibly in the Marx Brothers' movie Animal Crackers, in which at one point Groucho speaks directly to the camera, saying, "Pardon me while I have a strange interlude."
  • Meta-joke.- This kind of meta-joke is a joke in which a familiar class of jokes is part of the joke. An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman walk into a bar. The bartender turns to them, takes one look, and says "What is this - some kind of joke?"
  • Meta-advertising refers to a hybrid form of advertising, where the advertiser advertises for an advertisement. Meta-advertising can also include ads which advertise for advertising. This is common with billboards, such as a billboard that says "A thousand people will pass by this billboard today. To advertise here call..."
This one is so ridiculously me that I am actually meta about my meta-emotions. 

Meta-emotion refers to the emotional reactions to one's own emotions (second-order emotions about primary emotions). An example would be being angry (the primary emotion) and being afraid of one's anger (the meta-emotion).  (Chuck Pyle says: I'm angry that I feel guilty for being ashamed of being afraid.)

And finally, the ultimate in hamster-wheel, tail-chasing, mental exercise for the sake of avoiding reality, I bring you:

Metaphilosophy, also called philosophy of philosophy, is the study of the nature, aims, and methods of philosophy.

1 comment:

Einstein's Relative said...

Put it all together and it means you should read "Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar."

xoxo