metaproposition

plural metapropositions

1. human sciencesA proposition about propositions.

   What cognitive process—corresponding to intuition—enables a system to not only accept a proposition as true but to accept a metaproposition about “its” knowledge that the proposition is true?

   1976, Manfred Kochen, “Cognitive Science”, in Jack Belzer, Albert G. Holzman, Allen Kent, editors, Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology, volume 5, →ISBN, page 117

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   It cannot even be determined whether the former or the latter is the case, that is to say, whether one has arrived at a developmental-psychological proposition about individuals or a metaproposition about one’s own terminology.

   1989, Peter Janich, “Determination by Reality or Construction of Reality?”, in Robert E. Butts, J. R. Brown, editors, Constructivism and Science: Essays in Recent German Philosophy, →ISBN, page 262

   Since this is to assert both p and not-p (now about metapropositions concerning the truth of first-order moral propositions), presuppositional relativism appears to be as vulnerable as semantic relativism to charges of incoherence.

   1999, Heidi M. Hurd, Moral Combat: The Dilemma of Legal Perspectivalism, →ISBN, page 47

2. literatureAn underlying proposition that is embedded in many different statements throughout a given work or set of works.

   On the one side, others may see some other metaproposition that circulates throughout a piece of writing, different from one that I might proposed. On the other, still others may perceive no metaproposition at all.

   1992, Jacob Neusner, Decoding the Talmud’s Exegetical Program: From Detail to Principle in the Bavli’s Quest for Generalization, →ISBN, page 2

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   The initial metaproposition of the thema having been amply and methodically, if at times laboriously, dismantled and demonstrated, the preacher then brings his discourse to an end, the conclusio being a clear, neat summary of the various parts of the sermon.

   1995, Franco Mormando, “‘To Persuade Is a Victory’: Rhetoric and Moral Reasoning in the Sermons of Bernardino of Siena”, in James F. Keenan, Thomas A. Shannon, editors, The Context of Casuistry, →ISBN, page 61

   In his reformulated version of path-goal theory, House offered a metaproposition, which provides a capsule summary of a dizzying amount of studies and theorizing in relation to the theory. Understanding this metaproposition would be a good take-away from the theory: For leaders to be effective, they should engage in behaviors that complement subordinates’ environments and abilities.

   2013, Andrew J. DuBrin, Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills, 7th edition, →ISBN, pages 147–8