CEP PROPOSAL 5: METACEP
Third sense, "higher than, transcending, overarching, dealing with the most fundamental matters of," is due to misinterpretation of metaphysics as "science of that which transcends the physical." This has led to a prodigious erroneous extension in modern usage, with meta- affixed to the names of other sciences and disciplines, especially in the academic jargon of literary criticism, which affixes it to just about anything that moves and much that doesn't.
Etymology Online on 'meta-'
[from analytic philosophy] One level of description up. A metasyntactic variable is a variable in notation used to describe syntax, and meta-language is language used to describe language. This is difficult to explain briefly, but much hacker humor turns on deliberate confusion between meta-levels.
Jargon File on 'meta-'
Reflexivity, recursion, introspection, are important cultural practices, and occupy a special place in human thought. It is telling that it strikes one as odd, slightly uncanny, that Jakobson's six functions of language includes metalinguistics (language about language). It seems strangely like the odd one out. I am reminded of the strange notion that Borges' Library of Babel has floors (and that a significant portion of each room is dedicated to ascension and descention, while traversing horizontally takes up no space.
It is out of this milieu that I intend to work on my CEP.
As artists, and as people, our necessary practice is that of self-examination. To consider what we are doing, why we are doing it; analysis, evaluation. It is the cornerstone of self-actualization, of any meaningful self-directed activity. It is a requirement of any revolution, no matter how small or personal.
As such, I propose that my CEP be an investigation into my CEP.
No comments:
Post a Comment