Meta-Genealogical Reflection: 9 Symbolic Reflexivity — Meta-Construal and the Evolution of Meaning

Building on networked and systemic relationality, we now consider symbolic reflexivity, where the very act of construal shapes the field of possibility. Symbols, language, and conceptual frameworks do not merely describe the world; they co-constitute it, enabling some potentialities while constraining others.

In this meta-genealogical perspective, possibility itself is reflexive: the structures through which we understand the world evolve alongside the phenomena they interpret. Semiotics, cultural theory, and computational models reveal how meaning, action, and observation are entangled, producing feedback loops that shape both symbolic and material realities.

Key examples include:

• Semiotic systems: language, myth, and ritual structure perception and action, defining what is intelligible within a culture or context.

• Simulation and modelling: technological and conceptual frameworks allow us to explore possible worlds, influencing actual-world decisions and constructions.

• Reflexive knowledge practices: science, philosophy, and art continually revise their own interpretive frameworks, producing dynamic, evolving symbolic fields.

Modulatory voices highlight co-evolution:

• Structuralists emphasise relational codes and differences as the basis of symbolic possibility.

• Post-structuralists and cyberneticists stress recursive loops in which observer and observed, concept and context, continuously shape one another.

• Contemporary theorists explore simulation and virtuality, showing how symbolic constructs can actively modulate real-world potential.

Key construal strategies:

1. Reflexive possibility — understanding and action reshape the horizon of what is conceivable and achievable.

2. Meta-construal — construal operates on other construals, generating higher-order patterns of potential.

3. Co-evolution of meaning and being — symbolic systems, material reality, and human agency are mutually formative.

In sum, symbolic reflexivity demonstrates that possibility is not merely enacted in material or networked relations, but is actively mediated and extended through symbolic structures. This reflexive layer completes the bridge to a synthesis of relational ontologies, preparing us for the final post, which integrates historical, philosophical, and symbolic insights into a coherent account of the horizons of possibility.