The Generation of the Experienced World: A Cross-Traditional Structural Account

Abstract This paper offers a structural account of how an experienced world is generated. A subject's experienced world is not a direct mapping of external reality; it arises through the combined operation of external input, a cognitive kernel, the subject's vectoring, and fixation. External Input, E, does not stand for an "objective world" in an ontological sense. It names input from sources beyond the subject that enters the generative process. The formation of an experienced world depends on the Kernel, K—the subject's cognitive kernel—while also being continually affected by Vectoring, V, and Fixation, F. The resulting framework draws functional inspiration from Kantian philosophy, Buddhist thought, and Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind. It absorbs selected insights concerning the constitution of experience, mechanisms of fixation, and the subject's active participation, while remaining structurally independent of those traditions. Happiness is defined here as "the accumulation of positive emotions over time." It is treated as one application of the experienced-world model. The paper provides a framework for discussing and comparing the conditions under which an experienced world is generated. Version correspondence: English V4.0 is the English-language version corresponding to the Simplified Chinese V4.0.