Enriched Categories Applied to Qualia Spaces
Recently, Tsuchiya and Saigo used Category Theory to formalise relationships between experiences [1]. In particular, they used Enriched Category Theory to model qualia structure based on similarity judgements, applying it to the case of colour similarity [2]. Within their paper and general work, they advocate for a certain view of categorical consciousness based on Yoneda’s Lemma, which could “characterise a quale as its relationship to all other qualia.” But is this right?
In this talk, we’ll consider and answer three core questions from their paper:
- From the paper itself, “What kinds of relations (including similarity) can form an enriched category?”
- Does their categorical approach work?
- What are other applications of enriched category theory to consciousness?
[1] Tsuchiya, N. and Saigo, H. (2021) A relational approach to consciousness: categories of level and contents of consciousness. Neuroscience of consciousness. [Online] 2021 (2), niab034–niab034
[2] Tsuchiya, N., Phillips, S. and Saigo, H. (2022) ‘Enriched Category as a model of qualia structure based on similarity judgements’, Consciousness and Cognition. [Online] 101 (103319).