Towards a Mathematical Structure of Global Phenomenal Consciousness.
Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) May 29, 2026 Zoe Lee-Youngzie, Naotsugu Tsuchiya, Michael Robinson et al. 4 citations
A structural approach to consciousness models qualia—the qualities of experience—by examining either the internal organization of parts within an experience or the external relations between experiences. Integrating these two perspectives is a key step toward understanding phenomenally unified global experience. This paper describes both types of structural models and their category-theoretic formalizations, then proposes a sheaf-theoretic framework that maps mereological parts of experience to empirical measures of their qualia. Applying the framework to visual space demonstrates a formal description of experience's structure and conditions for phenomenal unity. The approach supports an empirical research program linking local and global phenomenal qualities.