The field of experience is the totality of modalities of experience to which the operation of distinction is applicable.
In other words, the field of experience specifies not a “set of things,” but a space in which consciousness can register non-identity (A ≠ B):
something was one way -> it became different
Principle of Enumeration
For an ontology built on distinction, the basic unit of enumeration is not types of sensations in themselves, but types of distinctions within the relevant modalities.
Modalities of the Field of Experience
1. Sensory Distinctions
- visual distinctions (contrast, shape, motion, light intensity);
- auditory distinctions (frequency, loudness, timbre, pause);
- tactile distinctions (texture, pressure, vibration);
- gustatory distinctions (intensity and qualitative shifts in taste);
- olfactory distinctions (nuance and change in odor profile).
2. Bodily Distinctions
- distinctions of pain (location, sharpness, dynamics);
- temperature distinctions (warmer/colder, gradient);
- distinctions of pressure and muscle tone;
- distinctions of fatigue and recovery;
- interoceptive distinctions (breathing, heart rhythm, internal tension).
3. Temporal Distinctions
- distinctions of sequence (before/after);
- distinctions of duration (shorter/longer);
- distinctions of rhythm (acceleration, deceleration, pause).
4. Mental Distinctions
- distinctions in thinking (different lines of reasoning);
- distinctions of meaning (different meanings and contexts);
- logical distinctions (compatibility/contradiction);
- emotional distinctions (shifts in valence and intensity);
- intuitive distinctions (preconceptual impulses and vague vectors).
Rigorous Formulation
The operation of distinction is applicable to every modality of the field of experience: sensory, bodily, temporal, and mental.
Methodological Qualification
The list of modalities is an operational layer of description. At a more general level, all modalities may be reduced to two basic types:
- distinction of intensity;
- distinction of structure.
In this case, the enumeration of modalities serves an illustrative rather than fundamental function.
