Yang Zhong

This article develops a temporal lens on theoretical formation to examine how artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the conditions under which concepts emerge, circulate, and stabilize. Rather than treating AI as a cognitive agent or a source of theoretical novelty, it integrates Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of objectification with Jacques Derrida’s concept of différance to propose a framework of Rhythmic Recursion, analyzing how internal experiential tensions interact with external genealogical encounters. The article distinguishes between first-order objectification structures (sedimented theoretical traditions, vocabularies, and paradigms) and second-order objectification structures (reflexive articulations formed through engagement with those traditions). It argues that recursion in theory formation is not additive but revisionary: each recursive movement partially rewrites earlier objectified segments rather than simply accumulating new layers. AI functions as a temporal mediator that compresses recursive intervals, allowing these revisions to occur earlier, more frequently, and with greater visibility during the formative stages of a concept. Through this temporal compression, conceptual boundaries, points of tension, and incompatibilities that would traditionally surface only after extended scholarly circulation are exposed at an embryonic stage. To clarify this mechanism, the article introduces a five-step recursive protocol for analyzing accelerated theoretical formation under AI-mediated conditions. The argument is illustrated through a reflexive case in which the manuscript itself emerges through such recursive rewriting, highlighting both the generative potential and epistemic risks of accelerated recursion.