self-reference
Naming its name
Self-reference is the act of referring to oneself or itself.
A sentence about sentences is self-referential.
A novel whose narrator discusses writing the novel engages in self-reference.
The concept matters in logic and mathematics, where self-referential statements can generate paradoxes: This statement is false.
In casual use, self-reference often describes humor or art that comments on its own form.
Process invoking itself
- loopCurve closing on itself
- fractalShape repeating at every scale
- feedbackReturned response data
- iterationRepeated procedural pass
nesting · ouroboros · reentry · stack · Escher · mirror · echo · spiral
Seemingly absurd truth
- circularityState of being round
- incompletenessState of lacking parts
- liarOne who speaks falsely
- RussellEnglish surname, aristocratic
diagonalization · contradiction · regress · Tarski · truth-value · fixed-point
Literature aware of itself
- fourth-wallConceptual stage boundary
- autobiographySelf-penned life narrative
- memoirWritten personal recollection
- autofictionFiction drawn from life
postmodern · Borges · Escher · reflexive · meta-commentary · intertextuality
Observing one's own mind
- consciousnessState of sentient awareness
- subjectivityPersonal viewpoint coloring perception
- identityWho someone is
- egoOne's self-image
autonomy · individuality · cogito · phenomenology · metacognition · interiority · first-person · solipsism
Noun's grammatical replacement
- reflexiveDirected back at subject
- anaphoraRepeated opening words
- antecedentSomething that precedes
- mentionBrief verbal acknowledgment
quotation · metalanguage · performative · first-person · demonstrative
recursion
Process invoking itself
iteration · nesting · ouroboros · reentry · stack · Escher · mirror · echo · spiral
paradox
Seemingly absurd truth
- circularityState of being round
- incompletenessState of lacking parts
- liarOne who speaks falsely
Russell · diagonalization · contradiction · regress · Tarski · truth-value · fixed-point
metafiction
Literature aware of itself
- fourth-wallConceptual stage boundary
- autobiographySelf-penned life narrative
- memoirWritten personal recollection
autofiction · postmodern · Borges · Escher · reflexive · meta-commentary · intertextuality
introspection
Observing one's own mind
- consciousnessState of sentient awareness
- subjectivityPersonal viewpoint coloring perception
- identityWho someone is
ego · autonomy · individuality · cogito · phenomenology · metacognition · interiority · first-person · solipsism · Cartesian
pronoun
Noun's grammatical replacement
- reflexiveDirected back at subject
- anaphoraRepeated opening words
- antecedentSomething that precedes
mention · quotation · metalanguage · performative · first-person · demonstrative
- literary devicesmetaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification, alliteration
- paradoxescatch-22, Zeno's paradox, Zeno's paradoxes, causal loop, bootstrap paradox
- Self-referencerecursion, recursive, meta, infinite regress, circular reasoning
- chicken and egg questionscircular reasoning, infinite regress, bootstrap paradox, first mover
- literary paradoxesoxymoron, contradiction, catch-22, antinomy, circular reasoning
- experimental narrativemetafiction, nonlinear plot, fragmented narrative, unreliable narrator, stream of consciousness
self, refer, selfish, referee, reference, selfless, referring, references, referred