[This](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/39626/is-there-a-general-setting-for-self-reference) is a question about self-reference: Has anyone established an abstract framework, maybe a certain kind of formal language with some extra structure, which makes it possible to define what is a self-referential statement?



Is there a general setting for self-reference?
I am not quite sure if it fits the bill but you can also check out:


[N. Yanofsky - A Universal Approach to Self-Referential Paradoxes, Incompleteness and Fixed Points](http://arxiv.org/abs/math/0305282)


