Symptom and Symbol

The circle of language reflection thus has its cause in the reflexivity of language, since communication about language also uses that language which is itself the object of this communication. If, therefore, every natural language potentially represents its own meta-language, then in the field of linguistic communication and meta-communication the type rule of logic is suspended, because “the semantic content of linguistic utterances contains, in addition to the manifest communication, at the same time an indirect communication about its application”. This applies (see above) in a special way to metaphor, formula and symbol, whose ‘double radiation’ presupposes rules of application, but which – and this applies above all to symbol and formula – must also contain indications of the application of analogous semantics, of the interpretation of relations, in order to be able to become effective extra-linguistically.