What is a Mathematical Structure of Conscious Experience?
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Abstract (arXiv)
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.
Key facts. Cited by 4 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). First posted on arXiv 26 Jan 2023.
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Citing papers per year: 2023: 2; 2024: 0; 2025: 1; 2026: 1.
4 papers.
- 2023Sources of Richness and Ineffability for Phenomenally Conscious Statescited by 7
- 2023If consciousness is dynamically relevant, artificial intelligence isn't consciouscited by 2
- 2025Unambiguous Representations in Neural Networks: An Information-Theoretic Approach to Intentionalitycited by 0
- 2026Categorical AI phenomenology: A first-person approachcited by 0
- 2026Categorical AI phenomenology: A first-person approach19 Aug 2026
- 2025Unambiguous Representations in Neural Networks: An Information-Theoretic Approach to Intentionality10 Dec 2025
- 2023If consciousness is dynamically relevant, artificial intelligence isn't conscious11 Apr 2023
- 2023Sources of Richness and Ineffability for Phenomenally Conscious States13 Feb 2023