Self-claim

Self-claims are claims an entity makes about itself. They are ontologically distinct from those other entities make about it, or those that it makes about other entities. Without this distinction one cannot tell ordinary reference from self-reference--nor easily determine how the entity forms its self-image.

Self-reference is usually considered the key to self-image and self awareness and ultimately any form of individual, group or collective intelligence. Without it, there can only be groupthink - the unexamined adherence to a prior list of self-claims made by interest groups, without a capacity to evolve these, or obsolete those claims that prevent the entity from achieving its destiny.

Self-reference can at time be an annoyance or a distraction, but it is necessary in order to combat groupthink. If no examination of self-claims is allowed, discourse about current policies can devolve into duckspeak.

Those self claims made very early in, or before, the entity's formation, are usually reflected in its founding assumptions, e.g. in a state constitution, a city charter, or a party ethic, which explicitly state such assumptions, and are usually key to the self-image.

Sometimes self-claims are primarily or wholly negative, e.g. w:Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not, which serves as a charter for that project. In this case they serve as an excuse for various kinds of eloision, censorship, and perhaps ultimately a decline of civility as the original self-claims are obsoleted by events or evolution.

The study of groupthink has shown repeatedly that the self claims of a group are best challenged anonymously, but with some means of limited accountability, e.g. known selection of the critic from a trusted group, or online, the availability of IP address information which provides some insight or traceability in case of genuine abuses.