metaproposition

meta- +‎ proposition

metaproposition (plural metapropositions)

1. (philosophy) A proposition about propositions.
   • 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:

     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?

   • 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:

     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.

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

     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.

2. (literature) An underlying proposition that is embedded in many different statements throughout a given work or set of works.
   • 1992, Jacob Neusner, Decoding the Talmud’s Exegetical Program: From Detail to Principle in the Bavli’s Quest for Generalization, →ISBN, page 2:

     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.

   • 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:

     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.

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

     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.

• metapropositional