What is a Mathematical Structure of Conscious Experience?

TL;DR

This paper defines a formal mathematical structure for conscious experience, aiming to unify various existing approaches and provide a foundation for a common language in consciousness research.

Contribution

It introduces an explicit definition of the mathematical structure of conscious experience, linking abstract math to concrete phenomenological data.

Findings

Provides a formal framework linking mathematics and consciousness.

Complements existing models like qualia and phenomenal spaces.

Lays groundwork for unified formal language in consciousness studies.

Abstract

In consciousness science, several promising approaches have been developed for how to represent conscious experience in terms of mathematical spaces and structures. What is missing, however, is an explicit definition of what a 'mathematical structure of conscious experience' is. Here, we propose such a definition. This definition provides a link between the abstract formal entities of mathematics and the concreta of conscious experience; it complements recent approaches that study quality spaces, qualia spaces or phenomenal spaces; it provides a general method to identify and investigate structures of conscious experience; and it may serve as a framework to unify the various approaches from different fields. We hope that ultimately this work provides a basis for developing a common formal language to study consciousness.