Meanings of Metatheory
Metatheory is made up of two words; meta which means ‘going beyond,’ and theory which means a set of ideas. Therefore, it means to formulate a set of ideas or assumptions to study theories or a specific theory. As such, metatheory is not specifically relevant to literary theory. It is relevant to the theory in that it is applied to every other field to study theory. This field could be science, social science or humanities, or culture. In other words, metatheory means to study the theory as a subject matter.
Since the time literary theory has entered the field of literature, it has rather bamboozled literary critics, readers, and writers alike. It has even amazed the literary people due to the introduction of newer terms every other day. Although metatheory is another such term, it is rather a broad term as it encompasses all theoretical concepts. In other words, it means to study theory or a specific theoretical perspective and aims to unravel theoretical approaches and concepts.
Literature and Metatheory
If metatheory is the study of theory, in literature, metatheory means the study of literary theoretical concepts, tropes, and lenses. As metatheory is made up of two words, meta means ‘beyond, after, or behind” while theory means an idea or a supposition or a system of ideas based on some assumptions, it is, nonetheless, a theory. Therefore, it means the ways of looking at the theory, unraveling its assumptions, and disjointing it part by part. For example, if you study formalism, its major principles, and its underlying assumptions, it means you are applying metatheory to study this specific theory.
Relevance of Literary Theory to Metatheory
In literature, it is relevant in that it helps in studying other theoretical concepts and tropes. For example, if you want to know formalism or Russian formalism, you will first know the common principles that govern it. Or for that matter, you will study humanism and its common principles such as stated by Peter Berry that good literature is universal, timeless, meaningful in history, has no ideological leanings, and is based on the permanence of human nature. Although there are more than ten tenets of English humanism as stated by Peter Berry, some critics outline more than these. Therefore, the study of English humanism as a theoretical concept and then the comparison of this concept with other such theoretical concepts and lenses falls under the category of metatheory.
How Does Metatheory Help Readers?
It helps literary critics to study other theoretical lenses, separate them from each other, compare and contrast them and find faults or point out important features of different theoretical approaches. In a way, it is a creative process that helps find more domains, regions, genres, times, or specific concepts. It also helps impregnate various cultural concepts with more meanings and semantic alternatives to the point that they lose their original meanings and demonstrate new nuances.
What is Metatheory?
In fact, it is the theory of theory or the study of theory. A person who is studying theoretical concepts and is engaged in theorizing them further is a student of metatheory. It is also akin to other terms applied to different subjects such as metalanguage, metalinguistics, metamathematics, metahistory, metalogic, and metatheorem. Besides literature, it is used in philosophy, psychology, social research, and mathematics.
Works Cited Groeben, Norbert. “Response: Literary Theory: Object Theory or Metatheory?!” (2008): 443-446
