Object level vs Meta level is a distinction between levels of abstraction, with the object level being directly about the specifics of the issue at hand, while meta level is concerned with the general principles which apply to a wider range of examples. It is often useful to move up and down the ladder of abstraction to get points across clearly, with the object level providing firm grounding and concrete examples for a person to grasp, while the meta layer allows them to generalize a new concept to a broad domain.
FWIW, I feel that this entry doesn’t capture all/most of how I see “meta-level” used.
Here’s my attempted description, which I wrote for another purpose. Feel free to draw on it here and/or to suggest ways it could be improved.
Meta-level and object-level = typically, “object-level” means something like “Concerning the actual topic at hand” while “Meta-level” means something like “Concerning how the topic is being tackled/researched/discussed, or concerning more general principles/categories related to this actual topic”
E.g., “Meta-level: I really appreciate this style of comment; I think you having a policy of making this sort of comment is quite useful in expectation. Object-level: I disagree with your argument because [reasons]”
One of those tags I’m surprised we didn’t already have. Good job on noticing and writing it!
Should this be “and” or “vs” in the tag title?
I’m in favour of keeping the and – it keeps the implication that a conversation can switch between meta and object level.