Higher-order Thoughts
Rosenthal is best known for his higher-order-thought (HOT) theory of consciousness. He argues that no mental state is conscious if one is not aware of that state; so a mental state is conscious only if one is aware of oneself as being in that state. And he argues that we are aware of mental states that are conscious by having a thought that one is in that state. These higher-order thoughts are seldom conscious thoughts, and they are distinct from the states they are about. The standard mark in everyday contexts and in experimental psychology that distinguishes conscious mental states is that an individual can report the state; we are unable to report mental states that aren't conscious. Rosenthal argues that it's the higher-order thoughts that accompany conscious states that enable us to make such reports; because we have no such higher-order awareness of mental states that aren't conscious, we can't report them. Rosenthal has also argued that the higher-order-thought theory fits well with recent findings in psychology and neuropsychology (Lau and Rosenthal 2011).
Read more about this topic: David M. Rosenthal (philosopher)
Famous quotes containing the word thoughts:
“The thought of you will constantly elevate my life; it will be something always above the horizon to behold, as when I look up at the evening star. I think I know your thoughts without seeing you, and as well here as in Concord. You are not at all strange to me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)