A Self-referential Boundary

An indication is an act of pointing at something. Self-reference is an indication that points at itself. Self-reference, therefore, has as its distinctive property a moment of non-distinction between the act of indication itself and the thing indicated by this act. This moment of non-distinction appears for instance in the famous paradox of Epimenides: the Cretan who says that all Cretans are liars. Here we find the moment of non-distinction between the Cretan’s speech act (the act of indication) on the one hand, and on the other hand the Cretan who is said to be lying (the thing indicated). It is their moment of non-distinction that renders the famous expression paradoxical. Would the two logical levels afford to be kept strictly separate, no paradox would arise.