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Consciousness and Higher‐Order Thought

David Rosenthal

Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science January 15, 2006 DOI: 10.1002/0470018860.s00149 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Key points Proposes that a mental state is conscious when accompanied by a higher-order thought about that state, thereby distinguishing conscious from unconscious mental states.

Abstract

AbstractThe higher‐order‐thought hypothesis is a proposed explanation of what it is for a mental state to be a conscious state and hence of how conscious mental states differ from mental states that are not conscious.