Reflexivitas

Reflexivitas, or reflexivity, is a cross-disciplinary notion describing self-reference or a self-directed relation within a system. In linguistics, reflexivity concerns constructions in which the subject and the object are the same or where the action targets the subject. Reflexive pronouns and affixes mark such relations; for example, English herself or himself, and many languages have dedicated morphologies to express reflexivity. Reflexive forms are distinct from reciprocal actions, which involve two or more participants.

In logic and mathematics, a relation R on a set A is reflexive if every element relates to itself: for all x in A, xRx. Common examples include the equality relation and the subset relation (⊆) on sets, or the less-than-or-equal relation (≤) on numbers. Reflexivity is a foundational property in order theory and in defining certain algebraic structures; the reflexive closure of a relation adds all missing (x,x) pairs.

In philosophy and the social sciences, reflexivity refers to self-reference and the capacity of agents to reflect on their own beliefs, positions, and biases. Methodologically, reflexivity calls for researchers to acknowledge how their own background may influence inquiry, analysis, and interpretation. It also appears in discussions of self-consciousness and epistemic justification.

Reflexivitas as a term thus spans language, mathematics, and theory of knowledge, with field-specific nuances but a common underlying idea of self-relatedness and self-reference.