Generalized enrichment of categories (Q5960413)

The most familiar theory of enriched categories is with respect to a symmetric monoidal category \({\mathcal V}\) as base; see \textit{G. M. Kelly} [``Basic concepts of enriched category theory'', Lond. Math. Soc. Lect. Note Ser. 64 (1982; Zbl 0478.18005)]. The author foreshadows the replacement of \({\mathcal V}\) by a very general kind of multicategory relative to some monad on \({\mathcal S}et\) or on globular sets. However, in this paper he settles for the case where the monad is the free category monad \textbf{fc}. He defines \textbf{fc}-multicategories whose 2-cells sit in squares whose top edge is a path and whose other edges are mere arrows. An ordinary multicategory (and hence ordinary monoidal category) is included by having only one object and one (identity) vertical arrow. Categories enriched in an \textbf{fc}-multicategory are defined. An advantage to this generality is that one has an \textbf{fc}-multicategory of enriched categories and modules between them without any need for colimits to define module composition.