1. From Undifferentiated Readiness to Structured Potential
If inclination names the internal leaning of potential toward coherence, it must also account for how coherence itself becomes differentiable. The field of potential is not homogeneous: it organises internally into distinct, though interdependent, orientations of readiness. These orientations correspond to the different modes of relational differentiation that later appear in semiotic form — spatial, temporal, modal, and interpersonal.
Each mode represents a way in which inclination organises possibility before semiosis: a pre-symbolic structuring of how things can stand in relation.
2. Spatial Inclination: The Orientation of Co-Presence
Spatial inclination concerns readiness for co-presence — the leaning of potential toward patterned coexistence. It is the form of inclination that allows relation to stabilise as configuration.
In this sense, spatial inclination precedes geometry. It is not yet extension or measure, but the ontological bias toward patterned differentiation: the readiness of the field to sustain “here” and “there,” “this” and “that.”
When actualised through construal, this inclination manifests as structure — the relational topology that semiotic systems later encode as location, proximity, or containment.
3. Temporal Inclination: The Orientation of Continuity
Temporal inclination introduces readiness for succession. It is the leaning of potential toward ongoingness — the possibility that a relational pattern can vary while remaining recognisably the same.
This inclination is not yet time in the measurable sense, but the ontological condition for duration: the field’s capacity to sustain correlated change.
When construed semiotically, temporal inclination appears as process — the experiential unfolding through which meaning takes on temporal contour (sequence, phase, rhythm).
4. Modal Inclination: The Orientation of Potential Itself
Whereas spatial and temporal inclinations concern differentiation in coexistence and succession, modal inclination concerns differentiation in potentiality itself. It is the leaning of possibility toward specific likelihoods or readinesses — the structuring of what can or might occur.
This inclination underlies the probabilistic structure of experience. It establishes the ontological gradient along which readiness (ability) and probability (expectation) can be distinguished.
When reflexively construed, modal inclination appears as modality: the semiotic encoding of potential in systems of probability, readiness, obligation, and necessity.
5. Interpersonal Inclination: The Orientation of Relation
Interpersonal inclination concerns readiness for mutual construal. It is the leaning of potential toward shared actualisation — the predisposition of the field to align perspectives.
This is not yet interaction in the behavioural sense but the ontological openness of potential to co-construal: the possibility that meaning can be jointly actualised rather than individually projected.
When semiotically instantiated, this inclination appears as interpersonal meaning: the grammar of speech function, exchange, and alignment that makes communication possible.
6. The Coherence of the Four Modes
| Mode | Ontological Orientation | Semiotic Realisation |
|---|---|---|
| Spatial | Readiness for patterned coexistence | Structure, configuration |
| Temporal | Readiness for correlated succession | Process, sequence |
| Modal | Readiness for differentiated potential | Probability, readiness, necessity |
| Interpersonal | Readiness for co-construal | Exchange, alignment |
These modes are not layers but mutually conditioning inflections within the same field of potential. Together they constitute what might be called the architecture of inclination: the structured readiness from which construal emerges.
7. From Inclination to the Proto-Semiotic Field
When the modes of inclination interrelate reflexively, the field achieves a critical threshold: potential begins to construe itself. This moment marks the emergence of the proto-semiotic field — the domain in which inclination is no longer only ontological readiness but becomes epistemic possibility.
The proto-semiotic field thus bridges the ontological and the semiotic: it is the level at which the inclinations of potential become available for symbolic alignment.
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