The meta gift of the year: a picture of a lamp that actually lights up. So many things, in fact, can be viewed through the lens of self-reference that meta has taken on its own identity as an adjective. And metadata is data that helps you further analyze other data-for example, the number of surveys that were taken on a given subject. In its most basic use, meta- describes a subject in a way that transcends its original limits, considering the subject itself as an object of reflection.Ĭonsequently, metatheory is theory about theory metacriticism is criticism about how we critique a work of art metafiction is fiction in which the author takes steps to acknowledge the artifice of fiction writing. The word meta is Greek and means "among, with, after," but we can thank New Latin, the language of scientific nomenclature, for its use prefixing the names of certain disciplines. I trust that this cures Mr Gleave's metagrobolism.In its most basic use, 'meta-' describes a subject in a way that transcends its original limits, considering the subject itself as an object of reflection. As he wrote, “The term is a bit grand, but it is precise and apt.” Incidentally, meta-analysis should not be confused with metanalysis, which is the process whereby, for example, “a nadder” becomes “an adder” (see BMJ 1999 318:17 321:953). In this statistical sense it was first used in the 1970s by GV Glass ( Educ Res 1976 3(Nov):2). So meta-analysis is an analysis of analyses, in which sets of previously published (or unpublished) data are themselves subjected as a whole to further analysis. Mantissa, a medical novel by John Fowles, is metafiction Francois Truffaut's film La Nuit Amercaine is metacinema several paintings by Magritte, notably La Condition Humaine, are meta-art and John Cage's piano piece 4'33” is metamusic. In these poststructuralist times we recognise many metaforms. And Jean Tinguely described his machine-like sculptures as “metamechanical.” (But a metaphysician is not a doctor's doctor.) A metalanguage is a language that supplies terms for analysing a language a metametalanguage does the same for a metalanguage. A metatheorem is a theorem about theorems. A metacriterion is a criterion that defines criteria. Then, from about 1940, it became commonplace to prefix meta- to designate concern with basic principles. Examples include metaethics (the study of the foundations of ethics, especially the nature of ethical statements) and metahistory (an inquiry into the principles that govern historical events). This use first appeared in the early 17th century (John Donne, for example, writes about metatheology) but did not become really popular until the middle of the 19th century. However, because The Metaphysics dealt with what Aristotle called “primary philosophy,” or ontology, metaphysics came to be misunderstood as “the science of that which transcends the physical.”Īs a result, the prefix meta- was then used to designate any higher science (actual or hypothetical) that dealt with more fundamental problems than the original science itself. Then he published a set of papers that he called The Metaphysics (τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυςικά), simply because it came after The Physics. Andronicus called one set of papers The Physics (τὰ φυςικά), dealing as they did with natural science. Some 250 years after his death, Aristotle's manuscripts came into the hands of Andronicus of Rhodes, who edited them. And chemists use meta- to differentiate certain metameric chemical compounds (such as metacresol, paracresol, orthocresol).Īnd so to Aristotle. In geology meta- is used to distinguish various types of metamorphic processes. In scientific English words its uses include “consequent upon” (as in the obsolete terms meta-arthritic, metapneumonic), “behind” or “beyond” in an anatomical sense (metabranchial, metacarpal, metaphysis), “coming later” (metaphase, which comes after prophase), or “changing” (metachromasia, a property of materials that stain a different colour from the stain used). Examples of the last include metabolism, metamorphosis, and metaplasia. It was also used as a prefix to express such notions as sharing, being in the midst of, succession, pursuit, reversal, and (most commonly) change. With the accusative it could mean coming into or among, in pursuit of, or coming after in place or time with the genitive it could mean in the midst of, between, or in common with and with the dative it could mean in the company of or over and above. The Greek preposition μετά (meta) had several meanings, depending on whether it governed the accusative, genitive, or dative case. Mr John Gleave, a neurosurgeon, has written to ask me the origin of the meta- in meta-analysis.
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