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The monoid-now: a category theoretic approach to the structure of phenomenological time-consciousness

Human consciousness is characterized by constant transitions in time. On the other hand, what is consciously experienced always possesses the temporal feature of “now.” In consciousness, “now” constantly holds different contents, yet it remains “now” no matter how far it goes. This duality is themat...

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Autores principales: Taguchi, Shigeru, Saigo, Hayato
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10507731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37731885
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1237984
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author Taguchi, Shigeru
Saigo, Hayato
author_facet Taguchi, Shigeru
Saigo, Hayato
author_sort Taguchi, Shigeru
collection PubMed
description Human consciousness is characterized by constant transitions in time. On the other hand, what is consciously experienced always possesses the temporal feature of “now.” In consciousness, “now” constantly holds different contents, yet it remains “now” no matter how far it goes. This duality is thematized in Husserlian phenomenology as “the standing-streaming now.” Although this phrase appears contradictory in everyday language, it has a structure that can be clearly understood and formalized. In this paper, we show that this structure can be described as a monoid in category theory. Furthermore, monoids can be transformed into the coslice category, which corresponds to the way of perceiving present moments as juxtaposed in succession. The seemingly contradictory nature of the “now” as both flowing and standing can be precisely structured and comprehended through the monoid, while the perspective of the “now” as discrete points on a timeline can be effectively formalized using the coslice category. This framework helps us more precisely understand the differences between ordinary consciousness and meditative consciousness, specifically the experience of the “eternal now.” We illustrate how the meditative states of consciousness presented in the early Buddhist scriptures (Pali Canon) and Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō remarkably reflect a monoid structure.
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spelling pubmed-105077312023-09-20 The monoid-now: a category theoretic approach to the structure of phenomenological time-consciousness Taguchi, Shigeru Saigo, Hayato Front Psychol Psychology Human consciousness is characterized by constant transitions in time. On the other hand, what is consciously experienced always possesses the temporal feature of “now.” In consciousness, “now” constantly holds different contents, yet it remains “now” no matter how far it goes. This duality is thematized in Husserlian phenomenology as “the standing-streaming now.” Although this phrase appears contradictory in everyday language, it has a structure that can be clearly understood and formalized. In this paper, we show that this structure can be described as a monoid in category theory. Furthermore, monoids can be transformed into the coslice category, which corresponds to the way of perceiving present moments as juxtaposed in succession. The seemingly contradictory nature of the “now” as both flowing and standing can be precisely structured and comprehended through the monoid, while the perspective of the “now” as discrete points on a timeline can be effectively formalized using the coslice category. This framework helps us more precisely understand the differences between ordinary consciousness and meditative consciousness, specifically the experience of the “eternal now.” We illustrate how the meditative states of consciousness presented in the early Buddhist scriptures (Pali Canon) and Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō remarkably reflect a monoid structure. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-09-05 /pmc/articles/PMC10507731/ /pubmed/37731885 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1237984 Text en Copyright © 2023 Taguchi and Saigo. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Taguchi, Shigeru
Saigo, Hayato
The monoid-now: a category theoretic approach to the structure of phenomenological time-consciousness
title The monoid-now: a category theoretic approach to the structure of phenomenological time-consciousness
title_full The monoid-now: a category theoretic approach to the structure of phenomenological time-consciousness
title_fullStr The monoid-now: a category theoretic approach to the structure of phenomenological time-consciousness
title_full_unstemmed The monoid-now: a category theoretic approach to the structure of phenomenological time-consciousness
title_short The monoid-now: a category theoretic approach to the structure of phenomenological time-consciousness
title_sort monoid-now: a category theoretic approach to the structure of phenomenological time-consciousness
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10507731/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37731885
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1237984
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